'Makerfield people do not want to be a pawn in Labour's civil war'

THE Reform UK candidate who hopes to derail Andy Burnham’s ambitions to win the Makerfield by-election and replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister warns voters do not want to be a sideshow in a civil war.

- BY DAVID WILLIAMSON

Robert Kenyon, a plumber who took Nigel Farage’s party to second place in the constituency in the 2024 election, aims to build on recent local council successes and send a non-Labour MP to Parliament for the first time in Makerfield’s history.

And Mr Kenyon, 41, had a sharp warning for Labour that people are unhappy to see their constituency dragged into the party’s succession battle. He said: “They feel a bit taken for granted — even more when people are just using the constituency of Makerfield and the people of Wigan as a pawn in a Labour civil war.”

The candidate has been at the centre of his own firestorm over past social media posts.

Television presenter Carol Vorderman has demanded an apology after a message from 2021 surfaced. Mr Kenyon had responded to a post by another user who wanted to perform a lewd act on Ms Vorderman, saying: “He’s saying what we're all thinking.”