Reform MP Condemns By Election Candidates Tweet

A Reform UK MP has condemned his own party’s candidate in a crunch by-election over an offensive post on X about Carol Vorderman.

Robert Kenyon, who is going head-to-head with Labour’s Andy Burnham to be the new MP for Makerfield, made the remark on one of his now-deleted accounts on the social media platform.

Reform MP Danny Kruger was told about the contents of the post by Today programme presenter Emma Barnett on Monday.

She said: “On Christmas Eve in 2021 he supported a message sent by another man to the TV presenter Carol Vorderman – and I apologise to our listeners but I think they need to hear this.

“There was a message sent to Carol Vorderman ‘happy birthday Carol, my God I would love to smell and lick your arsehole’.

“And your candidate for Makerfield replied saying ‘he’s only saying what we’re all thinking’, with a thumbs up and a laughing emoji.

“Is that the type of ‘better politician’ you think the British people deserve?”

Kruger, who defected to Reform from the Tories last year, said: “What you’re seeing there is obviously a private comment.”

When Barnett pointed out it was actually public, Kruger said: “The great challenge for social media for private people is that they use it as if they are chatting to their friends in the pub.

“It was a clearly inappropriate thing to say. I’m not going to judge people for what was intended as private conversations. Clearly that is not the kind of comment you would want an elected politician to say.”

Vorderman, the former Countdown presenter, has described has said Kenyon is “a cowardly misogynist”.

Kruger said: “This was clearly something said in a different context, not an appropriate thing to say publicly.”

But Barnett told him: “You can say this was private, but this was public and considered by him how he wanted to conduct himself, not 20 years ago, 30 years ago – in 2021.

“On Christmas Eve, he’s spending his time talking about what he wants to do to the intimate parts of a woman who used to present Countdown. Do you think you need to remove your man in Makerfield?”

Kruger tried to defend Kenyon’s post by pointing out he was not a politician at the time.

“He was an ordinary man from an ordinary place, and what he’s done now is step forward, outraged at the state of our country,” he said.

Barnett said: “Many ordinary men from ordinary places do not write like that.”

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.