Reform’s Makerfield candidate said Russia ‘within their rights’ to invade Crimea

Reform’s candidate in the crucial Makerfield by-election continues to make the headlines for all the wrong reasons, as his past social media posts continue to emerge showing his worrying views.

Robert Kenyon, who is taking on Labour’s Andy Burnham, agreed with a post in an online forum that described the annexation of Crimea as “democracy in action”.

The Telegraph reports that under a post titled “Hypocrisy of the West regarding Ukraine in the sin bin”, one forum member wrote: “The people of the Crimea want to be in Russia, for me that is democracy in action.

“The Government should work for the people not the other way round. The people have spoken and they have what they want. The Falklands and Gibraltar, they want to stay British, so be it.”

Mr Kenyon replied: “I agree totally, Russia are well within their rights to do what they have done as we did with the Falklands. However, will Latvia be next?”

It comes after a string of past social media posts by Kenyon were unearthed, including those which expressed misogynistic views. The plumber also expressed pro-Remain views.

A Times investigation revealed that the Reform candidate made pro Remain comments on a rugby league forum in 2019.

In a post on 28 March 2019, Kenyon wrote: “So anyone who thinks I love Trump, voted Brexit, read the Daily Mail, live in the 1950s, a Tory and 103 is wrong. I’m none of the above.”

On European free movement, Kenyon wrote: “Free movement of people is great when they are natives of the EU countries and not people from outside Europe seeking a Greek passport that will allow them into any country in the EU”.

Kenyon has also been accused of making ‘degrading’ comments about women in a series of resurfaced posts. 

As reported by the Independent, Kenyon previously claimed that women “can’t drive” and that they get abortions for “vanity purposes”.

Kenyon also claimed that women primarily rely on abortions so they can “shag anyone they want”.