If you are Reform are you ok with this repulsive man potentially becoming an MP and representing women in parliament?

[Johnogroats]

Robert Kenyon, the “cheeky local chappie” who is standing for Reform in Makerfield is on record as making some shockingly sexist comments and statements. Reform are standing by him.

Can I ask the women on here who are Reform voters if they are ok with the him remaining a candidate given what I cite below. Btw I am absolutely not, but I’m not and never will be a Reform voter for a variety of reasons.

1. Retweeting a post about performing a (graphic description) of a sexual act on Carol Voderman.
2. He has attacked women as being promiscuous and accused them of taking any decision to have an abortion lightly. He wrote, “reproductive rights, women's rights, they can dress it up all they want.
3. They're deciding to kill a baby inside the womb. What they mean is they want to shag anyone they want. And if they get caught, they get a second chance and treat it as a secondary, last form of contraception.”

Either you think this is ok (don’t understand how anyone let alone a woman could be ok with it) or presumably you’ll be contacting Tice and Farage etc to drop him.

Interested in your thoughts.

Well that's the biggest load of shit I've read on MN this week. And that's saying something.

'Dog whistle rallying cry' - you sound exactly like Lloyd Russell Moyle (ex) Labour MP, when he was ugly puce faced and shouting at a female MP who dared (at the time) say that biological sex matters.. Interesting.. He didn't last much longer as an MP of course

Right. OK. My bad.

Kenyon called abortion a “cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby” and suggested women falsely claim to have been raped in order to terminate their pregnancies.

https://abortionrights.org.uk/reform-uk-candidates-remarks-on-abortion-and-rape-are-dangerous-and-misogynistic-says-abortion-rights/

What did he say? I have tried to find out….

Incidentally-it’s fine to want a debate about time limits for abortion. What’s not fine is saying women who have abortions are slags, are pretending they were raped and are using them as contraception. Let’s not avoid the point.

1. There is such a thing as the law of unintended consequences. Benefits as a safety net is generally a good development but no one would argue that there aren't cases of entitlement and over-reliance on handouts. Assisted dying might be well-intentioned but there are hideous examples of it being the thin end of the wedge. I think it was in Canada where a young man with diabetes recently took the decision to end his life, to his mother's anguish. Safe access to abortion can be seen as a good thing but of course some women do use abortion as contraception, which was never the intention, and it is irresponsible. I had a shocking conversation with a 16 year old many years ago, who told me that her friend, 17 at the time, never used contraception and was about to have her second abortion. Abortion should be a last resort.
2. Carol Vorderman had a lot of work done to make herself look (stereotypically) sexually attractive. One man then found her sexually attractive, and another one retweeted the first's comment....shock, horror!
3. There is a big difference between SAYING something and DOING or NOT DOING something. The Reform candidate has SAID some things you may not agree with, that you think may indicate worrying attitudes towards women. Let's look at what the Tories and Labour, who have been in power, have DONE and NOT DONE, that have had real consequences for women. They HAVE allowed, for decades, mass immigration from misogynistic cultures, so that, in 21st century Britain, we are dealing with FGM, honour killings, grooming gangs.... also Labour and Conservatives HAVE NOT dealt with the invasion on the south coast, so unvetted, undocumented males, free to roam about, are able to murder (Rhiannon White, stabbed to death with a screwdriver, so her little boy is now without his mother) and rape.

OP, don't worry so much about what candidates SAY. Ther're allowed to have opinions and you can argue with them if you want. Look at what candidates/politicians DO and DON’T DO in terms of POLICY and how that affects women and girls. Conventional politicians like Starmer nd others are too polished to retweet crude sexual comments and I don't recall him criticising some of the women who seek abortions. But he didn't want a national enquiry into the grooming gangs and he's done very little about the small boats.
It's the conventional, "respectable" middle class politicians who women should be worrying about.

Reform voters are on board with jettisoning women's rights, so I can't imagine they'd be troubled by this?

He said "there would be nothing natural about Jan Moir's death if I shoved the bigoted old bag under a train". He said that in 2009 but it resurfaced in 2022. Think that may have been when his team apologised.

suggested women falsely claim to have been raped in order to terminate their pregnancies

They haven't quoted that claim. I can see;

“Don’t dole out the ‘what if someone is raped by their brother’ arguement [sic],

I would suggest he was saying, don't use an extreme example to shape a broader argument. That would be my interpretation rather than 'falsely claiming rape'. Unless there is another quote?

What are you suggesting? That he has a point?

But as you quote from the Observer article, you will have seen this as well

Kenyon said: “Don’t dole out the ‘what if someone is raped by their brother’ arguement [sic]. Life begins at conception. Abortion is the cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby and not having to face up to it cause a Dr did it. They don’t want babies? Use contreception! [sic]”

In other posts he also claimed that people advocating the right to choose were “usually the lefty crowd”, adding: “Because the left are actually evil.”

What men DO is what they SAY plus power.
I've heard quite enough of what Kenyon has to SAY to know he should never be given the power to DO anything.

No - I'm only suggesting that particular line has been misinterpreted.

Doesn't matter what the letter of the law is, in practice it works the same way. Unless Reform get in, in which case they're likely to import Trump's anti abortion legislation.

Nobody can say we weren't warned.

Absolutely.

Most of the meaningful human‑rights protections in the UK, including many that disproportionately matter to women, are enforceable because of the European Convention on Human Rights. Reform want to leave it.

A domestic “Bill of Rights” is not a substitute. Under parliamentary sovereignty, any such Bill can be rewritten or repealed the moment it becomes politically inconvenient. It offers no entrenched protection whatsoever.

They’ve also said they want to repeal the Equality Act. That’s the statute that protects women from pregnancy and maternity discrimination, among other things. This, of course, sits neatly alongside Farage’s long‑standing view that women who take maternity leave are “less valuable” to employers - hence his argument that businesses should be free to discriminate.

Would leaving the ECHR make it easier for a government to legislate more aggressively on “women’s spaces” and exclude trans women? Yes, probably. But the price tag is stripping away the main external check that protects women’s rights in the first place.

When Reform voters profess to "know what a woman is", yeah - they mean what you say.

What about the other lines?

Life begins at conception. Abortion is the cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby and not having to face up to it cause a Dr did it. They don’t want babies? Use contreception! [sic]”

I guess he is entitled to his personal views on abortion - probably best not to post them on a public forum though.

Thank you.I had forgotten that. Obviously he shouldn’t have said it. But context is important in this case. It was in response to some particularly appalling statements by Jan Moir about the death of a young gay man- basically saying that his death was a natural consequence of his lifestyle.

Apparently, he also tweeted;
"Considering starting my own vigilante org to push nasty people under trains. First up Jan Moir, followed by Geert Wilders..."

1. Carol Vorderman had a lot of work done to make herself look (stereotypically) sexually attractive. One man then found her sexually attractive, and another one retweeted the first's comment....shock, horror!

That absolutely disgusting, vulgar comment had nothing to do with sexual attractiveness and everything to do with humiliating her. Only a man - and a really gross one at that - would even attempt to frame it as a compliment.

Its not just his views on abortion though, is it? Its his view that responsibility for conception lies solely with women, and that the abortions he is against are the result of women being promiscuous and irresponsible, and that women who have abortions are guilty of infanticide.
All the blame for unwanted pregnancy is placed on women. He reviles women for their sexualiry and uses extreme language to frame them as guilty of the worst of crimes.
Its apparant he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed and that his thought processes are simplistic to say the least. And the combination of lack of critical thinking and inate misogyny is pretty dangerous. Because you can't even reason with people like that.

He sounds utterly hideous.

They justify it with whataboutery relating to the other parties. Usually but not exclusively the greens. I agree wholeheartedly op but sadly most Reform voters are of the same Neanderthal mentality.

He initially didn't want an enquiry because there already had been enquiries. It's not some massive cover up is it, it was about putting into place the recommendations that came from the multi-million quid enquiry that the Cons did. He was the one who asked for an audit by Casey and then changed his stance on that recommendation. This is sensible politics and not politics by the media imo before spending many more millions.

And he's done more on boats than any other party, in less time. Labour are steadily working their way through the backlog of claims. They've created the BSC so the powers that be can work together. They've changed some visa rules to be less attractive and more asylum seekers have been returned. It's a massive problem, there is no simple fix, no other party has done anything and it's been 2 years since been in office. If you have a quick solution please contact the government so they can get on with it.

@Happyjoe this is the way these Reform threads always go. Lots of ranting. I haven’t stated what my view is, other than to say that I’ve never voted Reform. But my job involves a lot of contact with the public and I’m just telling OP what a lot of people think. I’d rather you didn’t call me an idiot.

A lot of people are idiots then, would company make you feel better?

Comments about the hospitals, nah, that's just naff. It is not the fault of asylum seekers, it's the fault of the tories who have not invested into our NHS for years.