The Daily Express seems to have become very smitten with Robert Kenyon, Reform’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election, handing the man they dub the “plucky plumber” oodles of fawning coverage.
As Kenyon’s history of sexist, violent and homophobic social media posts dripped into the public domain, the Express’s chief political commentator David Williamson gave him the soft-soap treatment in an interview headlined “Reform’s Robert Kenyon warns Labour against treating Makerfield as ‘pawn’ in its civil war”.
Suggested Reading
Daily Star falls for lie of Thai AI
Addressing the fact that Kenyon had admitted “I’m a sexist”, claimed women couldn’t drive, said they had abortions “for vanity purposes”, complained about local ladies’ “fat bellies” and endorsed graphic sexual remarks about former Countdown numbers whizz Carol Vorderman, Williamson quoted him as conceding it was “a crass comment that I certainly wouldn’t make today”.
“I’m not a career politician,” he told Express readers. “I’m not polished, I don’t claim to be. I’m certainly not perfect. And throughout my time, I would have said things that I would regret now and wouldn’t say now.”
Meanwhile, Williamson’s fellow Ulsterman, oddball columnist Leo McKinstry, penned a paen to Kenyon, marvelling how his “unpretentious decency stands in contrast to Burnham’s air of entitlement, which contradicts his tiresome ‘man of the people’ routine”. He added: “The difference between the two men is captured in a devastating line now used by Reform campaigners: ‘Vote for the plumber, not the drip’.”
Suggested Reading
Wound-up merchant: mayoral hopeful Russell Brand closes down his company
And over on the letters page, readers dismiss his sexist utterances – he shared a particularly obscene message from a man eager to “smell and lick” a part of Vorderman’s anatomy, adding “He’s only saying what we’re all thinking” – as “antiques”, while another reader added he had “a much better CV than most existing MPs”.
And what was the front page headline on the Express last week as it raked through Labour rival Andy Burnham’s previous comments on which public toilets trans people should use? ‘NO THANK YOU TO ANOTHER PM WHO DOES NOT BACK WOMEN’. What spectacular consistency!
Kenyon, meanwhile, has finally responded to Vorderman’s call for an apology for his vile comments – with a magnificent piece of whataboutery. Declining to say sorry, he told the Manchester Evening News: “I’ve not heard much about Carol’s thoughts on Labour not having the grooming gangs inquiry last year or what she thinks about biological males being allowed into single sex spaces.”
Most popular
I asked an audience of building experts if Starmer should stay - you’ll be amazed by the response
Dear Tony Blair: Please shut up
Exclusive: Reform failed to tell the UK’s data watchdog about Farage’s ‘hacked’ phone
Putinism has failed, and a new kind of threat has arrived
