Why Farage and his Reform Party lost the Makerfield by-election

There is an excellent argument why Reform did not win the by-election at Makerfield on 18^th June and it’s not because I have an inherent passion to see Andy Burnham the next leader of the Labour party, or because I am a closet supporter of any of the other parties. I confess, if I were to be able to vote in that election, I would vote for Burnham, but only because I would hope it would keep Farage's Reform candidate, Robert Kenyon far away from the House of Commons.

Such a vote would grieve me greatly, especially after years of virulent antisemitism within the Labour Party – an issue, I would add that seems to still be present and where there appears to be little passion by its members to resolve it.

I think it would be fair to say the parliamentary candidates in this by-election are some of the most lack-lustre we have seen for some years. 

Burnham is a talented and experienced politician and, in terms of debate has shown himself to be leaps and bounds better than the others, but he wants voters to support a party that since being elected is on a path that will leave our defences in crisis, our housing stock reduced even more and illegal immigration largely unabated. The last being one of the biggest concerns amongst UK voters.

As for the rest of the candidates, well let’s look at them, and to make it simpler, I am going to eliminate those smaller parties and independents who will most certainly lose their deposits. As for the rest, we have:

Jake Austin (Liberal Democrat) – is an experienced local councillor from Wigan but with polls showing him running at only 1%, he is one of those likely to lose his deposit. He will be hoping this will improve by election day, but I remain doubtful.

Michael Winstanley (Conservative) – Another local councillor, who one would have expected to be polling at least double numbers, but with polls showing him only reaching 3%, the Conservatives must be asking what are they doing wrong. Sadly, voters keep telling them, but they are not listening.

Sarah Wakefield (Green) – A Manchester City Councillor who has shown herself to be a competent candidate and may, in the future, prove to have a career in national politics, but with a party leader eager to divest himself of his Jewish background and a propensity to offend anyone remotely appalled by antisemitism, she is unlikely to do well. However, current polls put her at 5% so she may, at least be able to keep her deposit.

Rebecca Shepherd (Restore) – Though highly unlikely to win, with polls averaging 7%, she may prove to be a major thorn in Reform’s side and enough to split the vote and give the seat to Andy Burnham. Her party leader, 

Rupert Lowe was once a member of Reform but he was thrown out when he made false allegations of violence against Reform’s party chairman, Zia Yusuf. One of his most well-known gaffs was saying, “I won’t have woke creeps telling is we’re racist.”. Against this, he has argued how Indians and Pakistanis are taking British jobs – is he racist? I leave that to you, but the evidence is stacked heavily against him.

Robert Kenyon (Reform) – A recently elected councillor on Wigan council and a plumber by trade (If elected maybe he could pair up with Green MP and fellow plumber, Hannah Spencer and start an in-house plumbing business in the Commons). Kenyon has a warehouse full of political gaffs (more on this later), but despite this is still managing to achieve 41% (5% behind Burnham) of the vote. He stood in 2024 as a candidate in Makerfield and came second.

By any stretch of the imagination this is a pretty shoddy selection of candidates and, quite honestly, I think the only reason there has been interest in this by-elections is because of Burnham’s stated intention to force a leadership contest within the Labour party if he is elected. 

So, let’s now look at the vulgarity of Reform, its leader and its candidates.

Nigel Farage

Recently I've been taking a look at some of Farage's speeches, press conferences and news reports and I've concluded he is a man with a highly questionable background, especially regarding his attitude towards Jews.

But first, let’s look at his financial dealings - in 2024, Farage personally received £5m from Christopher Harborne (Harborne, also known as Charit Sanskrit) is a British Thai billionaire technology investor and the largest financial backer of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party. He has provided them with over £22 million in donations, including a record-breaking single donation of £9 million in 2025) and add to that tens of thousands Farage received over the years for "travel expenses" and let's not forget the £1.4m house, according to Harborne, this was bought outright for him, though Farage and later Harborne both claimed he bought it from fees for appearing on I'm a Celebrity).

All this could be forgotten, (especially when considered against a number of other MPs who take advantage of their parliamentary work to make money outside) if he did his job while in the House but, using a more recent example (there are others), during April and May this year alone, he missed 77 parliamentary votes without explaining his absence to his electorate while taking a £98, 599 salary. I should also mention that detailed analysis of legislative records indicate he has registered other frequent absences for votes.

Then, of course there is his history of antisemitic comments when he was younger. You may recall how an investigation by the Guardian newspaper disclosed how over 30 former contemporaries and teachers at Dulwich College in south London alleged that the teenage Farage engaged in racist and antisemitic behaviour. He put this all down to childhood antics and therefore irrelevant, though interestingly he refused to apologise. Additionally, in his early political career, Farage faced a backlash for his interviews with far-right US media, where he discussed supposed globalist plots, the financier George Soros, and the Bilderberg group. He denied they were antisemitic, but nonetheless, UK Jewish groups condemned these as antisemitic "dog whistles".

Finally a scour through the Campaign Against Antisemitism archives revealed  how in 2017, Farage attempted to end a controversy over remarks he made when he told LBC Radio listeners how he believed American Jews exert disproportionate political power and even appeared to agree with a claim they have financial control over American politics.

As for his supposed pro-Israel position this was killed off when a caller on another LBC programme named only as Ahmed, told Farage he thought the pro-Israeli lobby in the United States was no less dangerous than alleged Russian hacking, Farage appeared to agree, and started talking about Jews: “Well the Israeli lobby, you know, that’s a reasonable point Ahmed, because there are about six million Jewish people living in America, so as a percentage it’s quite small, but in terms of influence it’s quite big.” When Ahmed said Israel has both the Republicans and Democrats “in their pockets”, Farage responded: “Well in terms of money and influence, yep, they are a very powerful lobby”. Summarising the call, Mr Farage once again made clear he believed a “Jewish lobby” is at work on behalf of a foreign Government, and adding: “ … that there are other very powerful foreign lobbies in the United States of America, and the Jewish lobby, with its links with the Israeli Government is one of those strong voices.”

Racism, sexism and intolerance amongst Reform party candidates and officials

Given the number of Reform members with known links to Britain First, BNP and in a couple of cases Patriotic Alternative it should come as no surprise how a significant number of candidates and officials have been shown to be sexist, racist or generally intolerant. Indeed, even a cursory look at past candidates reveals  questionable characters who, normally should never have seen sight of a ballot sheet eg Jonathan Kay, Mick Greenbough, Jack Denny, Stevie Bates, Lucian Fernando, Marc Burca, Augustine Obodo, David Prior, George Martin Parnell, or John Black - and this list is only a cursory glimpse through the database. If we dig deeper, it is no surprise Tice himself admitted some of Reform's own candidates are Muppets and morons.

Other recent candidates and officials who helped expose the true racist and sexist nature of the party have also included the candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, who was suspended over racist and antisemitic comments; the candidate for Hill End, who made a spate of shocking comments about Jewish people, black people, Muslims and Indians; the candidate for Bury, who said the Charedi Jewish population has created a “demonic social structure” and compared it to Al Qaeda and ISIS; and the chair of Brighton and Hove, who had to stand down after antisemitic posts on X were revealed

Now, let me be clear, though I am always astonished it needs saying, I do not believe Reform UK are National Socialists. Indeed, I am on record as saying elsewhere how I concur with Prof Cas Muddle they are a Radical Right political party and NOT even far-right. But even more, if we acknowledge populism is a (thin) ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups, the pure people and the corrupt elite, and which argues politics should be an expression of the volante Générale (general will) of the people, then within this we can label Reform Party Ltd a populist Radical Right party, and in this regard, I find both Farage and his party dangerous.

Of course, all the Reformers out there will now be screaming 'but we suspended most of them' or ' that's old news', but my reply is simple and from something I learned while teaching - once is an accident, twice a coincidence and three times a pattern - so what's well over one hundred? The answer is simple - the party remains steeped in Radical Right politics but influenced by far-right fellow travellers who remain in the party.

Robert Kenyon 

But probably the best example of the true nature of Reform lies in their candidate in the Makerfield by-election, Robert Kenyon, a disturbingly sexist individual who, despite daily revelations of his deep-seated disdain for women’s equality, continues to be endorsed by them, 

Let’s look at some of his comments:

On an online rugby forum, he said: “… women can’t “ref, drive or give directions,” and on the subject of women presenting rugby games on TV said: “aren’t up to the job and only there to tick a box”, adding: “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.”

He also objectified European women’s bodies, saying English women “don’t care” and “just walk around with their fat bellies and odd shapes pushing a pram at 16 in their PJ’s”.

Now, in case you aren’t clear about his position yet, let me tell you about his 2019 comments on a rugby league forum claiming women who have abortions get them for “vanity purposes” and so they can “shag anyone they want”.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, he went on to pontificate about abortion, arguing it was: “a cowardly act of murdering a defenceless baby” and then went on to suggest women falsely claim to have been raped to terminate a pregnancy.

The LGBTQ community have also been recipients of his wrath, arguing gay people are “poofs” on a 2009 forum, and later, in 2010, describing them as “mincing about” on TV and in one post on “X” wrote: “You can’t call her ‘The Queen’ anymore because it offends the poofs.”

The next year, he wrote:  “People who want to make a stand for homosexuals need not combat the throwaway comments of a sportsman on twitter, but need to do something about the way homosexuals are perceived in the mainstream media, for instance … having Julian Clarey [sic], Graham Norton, 4 poofs and a piano and Paul O’Grady mincing about on TV does a lot more damage to the reputation of homosexuals and causes greater insult in my opinion.”

In, as late as 2020, he wrote: “If LGBT just want acceptance, then stop making a big song and dance about it, attention seeking and taking over other events because that’s turning people against you”. He also called Labour the “party for tyranny’s”.

Back on the subject of his sexism, Hope Not Hate revealed in 2021 Kenyon interacted with a social media message sent to the UK TV Countdown co-host, Carol Vorderman , which read: “Happy birthday Carol, my God I would love to smell and lick your arsehole.” And when she publicly demanded an apology, he replied, “… only saying what we’re all thinking,” along with a thumbs up and a laughing emoji.

More disturbingly, the campaign organisation, Searchlight which specialises in exposing far-right activists, discovered Kenyon was friends with Gary Raike, the neo-Nazi, Hitler-loving leader of the New British Union, a successor to the old Mosley British Union of Fascists.

Political Comment

It seems to me to be extraordinarily obvious Reform is extremely dangerous and contrary to all the values that have made the UK a great nation. Their hatred of immigrants, legal or otherwise, isn’t based on a desire to protect the culture and traditions of our country, but on a fierce racism steeped in neo-fascist ideology and supported by members who, in many cases, are themselves from a far-right or neo-fascist background. Rather than wishing to rebuild Britain, they want to destroy its democracy and build intolerance and division.

Their tools are lies and denial using propaganda as its cudgel. Writing in the book, “1984”, Orwell once said, “If all others accepted the lie which the Party [or its leader] imposed – if all records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became truth.” – never has this become more true than in the writings and speeches of both Farage or Reform party officials.

Currently, they are riding on the crest of a wave – a wave that will subjugate women and virtually every minority group; a wave preaching tolerance and division – and like an infected abscess it requires lancing and eradicated. 

Thankfully the electorate gave an overwhelming vote against Kenyon and Reform giving them less than one-third of the vote, while the victor, Andy Burnham polled roughly 54% of the total vote.

Tonight has been a wonderful night for common decency and democracy

The unpleasant case of Green antisemitism

 The leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, who is Jewish, took to social media after an article from the Daily Mail quoted one of his family members saying he is "the leader of the future Islamic party of Britain".

The article featured three extended family members who Polanski with whom he has no contact.

Responding, Polanski pointed out that he is currently the only Jewish person in charge of a political party, adding: "The Daily Mail have been and always will be my enemy – they historically supported fascists and continue to do so.

"I'll take no lectures from them on antisemitism."

A Green Party spokesman also hit out at the article, saying: "Zack is one of five Jewish leaders of a political party in British history and the harassment he has received since being elected is patently antisemitic.

"Reporting like this demeans the press and our democracy." 

Responding to backlash, Nicole Lampert - the journalist who wrote the piece and who is Jewish herself - denied that she was "going after" Polanski's family and said those she had spoken to were "frightened by the Jew hate in your party"

She continued: "They are frightened by what you have given the green light to ... While you once fought Jew hatred, now you indulge it because, as we both see, it is popular."

"Other political groups have discovered this in the past," she added.

Polanski responded accusing the journalist of "parasitic behaviour" and dismissing the story as "daily nonsense".

I find a strange irony here - a political leader whose party has patently expressed anti-Israel and, by default anti-Zionist comments now finds it necessary to defend itself from what it calls antisemitic attacks. Personally, I call that "Jewish when needed".

Sorry Zack, it won't work!

You and your ridiculous little party have brought this on yourselves and I have no sympathy. Historically the Greens have always done badly in General Elections and I see no evidence this will change. Remember, back in 1981 the Lib Dems were told by their then leader, David Steele " ... Prepare for government". Well, back in 2024 they only managed 72 MPs, a long way from government.

Be warned, the Greens are a vicious, nasty antisemitic party but, like a tiny stone in your shoe they will be thrown out and consigned to the dustbin

Latest Far-Right News Round-Up - February 6th, 2024

It's been a fairly quiet time for the far-right in the UK, but history has always shown that whenever a snake is quiet it is usually because they are planning something - a point activists and researchers may wish to consider as we slide into election year.

Once again, Patriotic Alternative’s Sam Melia is in trouble. Melia, an ex-National Action member was found guilty of running an online archive of downloadable stickers he created that the prosecution argue were designed to stir up racial hatred. Naturally, Melia is screaming he is innocent and arguing that all he was trying to do was "start a conversation".

What should be made clear her is that Melia has confirmed he was the head of the Hundred Handers, an anonymous group of activists responsible for a spate of anti-immigration “stickering” incidents between 2019 and 2021. During its heyday the group organised into two sub-groups  –  the Heads and the Hands. The Heads design stickers and posters, using specific printers to ensure their material does not run in the rain. The Handers then receive the material at the beginning of every month to disperse over their designated area.

Sam Melia

As part of their campaign to supposedly “start a conversation”, in January 2020, fake Extinction Rebellion posters were reported in Brighton. These included: 'Stop white genocide', 'House the world, destroy the environment' and 'population control in the third world'. Then in March 2020, further such stickers appeared in Bedford and in September 2020, stickers with racist slogans and linked to the Hundred Handers appeared in the Crookes area of Sheffield. Stickers were also reported in Scotland.

 

In June 2020, it was reported the group had put up messages in Canada, such as: "Never apologise for being white," and "There is a war on whites" and "It's okay to be white.”Further incidents were recorded when in 2021, Hampshire Police increased patrols and examined CCTV footage in response to the Hundred-Handers posting anti-immigrant, pro-white stickers in the town of Romsey, including some that read "White Privilege Excellence."

He will be sentenced on March 1^st.

 

On the subject of Patriotic Alternative, it is worth mentioning that well-known Pro-Palestinian blogger, Muhammad Dilmar ‘Dilly’ Hussain, who is no stranger to distorting the truth for political gain was happy to invite PA’s ‘fuhrer’, Mark Collett to his home to be interviewed for his Islamist blog, ‘5 Pillars’.

 

Mark Collett

 

Hussain is no stranger to controversy and has accused Tell MAMA (an independent, non-governmental organisation that works on tackling anti-Muslim hatred) in a Tweet on X that they are, in his words, “run by Zionists who support murder of children” and that it supposedly has “militant Zionist patrons and trustees”. Separately, Hussain has written a longer Facebook post in which he attacked Tell MAMA because he believes “their board of trustees and patrons are infested with hardcore Zionists.”

 

Britain First may face a little unpleasant publicity in Northern Ireland when former Belfast councillor Jolene Bunting goes to the High Court in a bid to overturn her three-year ban on seeking re-election.

Apparently, an appeal against her disqualification is being mounted amid confirmation that she will not be prosecuted over any allegations of fraud by misrepresentation. From what we are able to gather, her challenge to the sanction imposed by the Northern Ireland Local Government Commissioner for Standards (NILGCS) will not be heard until later this year. Ms Bunting, a former independent unionist councillor, was disqualified in February 2023 for breaching the code of conduct when the watchdog found she had brought her position into disrepute by doctoring a payslip in a bid to obtain cash from far-right party Britain First following a complaint lodged by the group’s leader, Paul Golding.

 

While on the subject of Britain First, it appears they told their supporters that “jihadists” burnt the officers of Conservative MP, Mike Freer in north London, even though the police already ruled out any hate crime motive. Two non-Muslim homeless people were charged with arson last month over the attack on Freer’s office in Finchley, but that failed to stop Britain First inciting its supporters against Muslims by trying to pin the blame on “radical Islamists.”

 

In a newsletter distributed on the 3^rd February, with the title “Radical Islam on the Rise,” Britain First told their supporters: “It has emerged that a sitting Member of Parliament has been forced to step away from politics due to attacks and threats from Islamist extremists. Mike Freer, representing a seat in London, had his office burnt out by jihadists. Mr Freer said he – and his staff – would wear a stab vest, and carry a panic alarm, when meeting the public on the advice of police. Mr Freer has received endless death threats, going back as far as 2011, from groups including ‘Muslims Against Crusades’, which was later classified as a terrorist organisation by the government and banned.”

 

It seems voters at the next general election will have the dubious delight of being able to vote for candidates representing the Homeland Party. The white nationalist group applied to the Electoral Commission (EC) last May to become a political party. Its application has now been granted and the group is officially registered, allowing it to field candidates at elections across Britain.

 

Announcing its registration with the EC, Homeland Party claimed it is “returning politics to the bedrock foundations of nation and community” and would be calling for a “binding referendum on immigration”.

 

Anti-fascist critics raised serious concerns, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), who said it is “extremely concerning when a far-right group successfully obtains political party status”. The Scottish Greens said Homeland’s “worldview has no place in a modern or progressive Scotland” and that voters would reject it. We can but hope.

 

Steven Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) remains in the news. It seems the former leader of the English Defence League and ‘friend’ of Paul Golding is touring the north-west of England whipping up hate by weaponising child sexual exploitation. As part of this ‘tour’ he descended on Telford in the West Midlands on 27^th January and announced he will go on to Oldham in Greater Manchester on 23^rd March. The ‘tour’ will concern democrats from all political persuasions amid a by-election announced for 29^th February in nearby Rochdale, another town in the north-west scarred by a child sexual exploitation scandal. It seems almost certain Lennon will use the tragic experience of child sexual exploitation in the city to scapegoat migrants and refugees. It seems almost certain he may receive further support from candidates like Simon Danczuk, the ex-Labour MP, who is now standing for the Reform Party and Billy Howarth, founder of Parents Against Grooming UK.

 

Finally, many readers will be aware that several ex-members of National Action have now either been released or will be due for discharge in the coming months. Among those now able to roam the streets include Matthew Hankinson, who was 24 when jailed for membership of the banned terror group, National Action (NA) in 2018. He was one of eleven people arrested in late 2017 as part Operation Harplike, an investigation launched by counter-terror police. Hankinson has been released having served a full sentence during which time he made and received no telephone calls; nor did he receive visitors or write or accept any mail during his time. During his time languishing under His Majesty’s pleasure, Hankinson resolutely refused to cooperate with rehabilitation initiatives and as such, having served a full sentence, he is free to live wherever he chooses without having to report to the Probation and Aftercare Service – this is despite the fact that many would still describe him as a high-risk offender.

 

Other notable NA members to have been released include, Alice Cutter, the highly reported runner up in the group’s disturbing ‘Miss Hitler’ competition and Mark Jones, her previous boyfriend, though a condition of their release was that they were not allowed to contact each other. Like Hankinson, Jones was released despite refusing to undertake extra work to back up a number of jail programmes he completed to address his extremist views.

 

However, unlike these little cherubs, Darren Fletcher, (aka Darren Clifft and Christopher Phillips) who was jailed for three years and four months, with an extra 18 months added on for breaching an outstanding order against him was released into the community on strict license conditions (similar to those applied to former members or adherents of Islamic State), Fletcher worked as an HGV driver and continued to brag he was still spreading hatred and that nothing could stop him. He proved as much by attending a hardline anti-immigrant rally in Walsall several months ago where he was letting everyone know that he was back up to his old tricks.

 

Darren Fletcher

 

Thankfully, his antics were being monitored and he was returned to court for breaching a criminal anti-social order and as a consequence is now serving a further four years in prison.

 

Well that about completes this news round-up. If you want to keep up to date, please subscribe, and above all – stay safe