Nigel Farage admitted he was “disappointed” after Reform UK’s candidate, self-employed plumber Robert Kenyon, trailed more than 9,000 votes behind Labour’s Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election — a defeat that has triggered internal recriminations over the party’s choice of candidate and its appeal to women.
Burnham increased Labour’s majority over Reform in a constituency Labour has held for over a century, a rare feat for a governing party candidate. The outgoing Greater Manchester mayor is now expected to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership. In a video clip posted online, Farage blamed the result on voters’ desire to eject Starmer from Downing Street: “What really happened here is it was ‘vote Burnham, get Starmer out’.” He conceded his party had also lost votes to right-wing rival Restore Britain, founded by ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe, which finished third. Speaking directly to Restore supporters, he pleaded: “We are the challenger party to the left in this country. I would urge you to think again.”
“Reform UK's candidate lost Makerfield by 9,000 votes, triggering internal criticism over misogyny and a refusal to appear on Sunday shows.”
But behind the scenes, the defeat has exposed deeper fractures. Gawain Towler, a Reform board member and former director of communications, published an essay titled “Speaking to half the country” in which he warned that Makerfield was a “wake-up call”. He wrote: “The woman problem has a number attached now, and a lost seat behind it. Robert Kenyon arrived carrying a decade of online remarks about women. The party chose to wave this away as banter… It was no confection on the doorstep.” Kenyon had previously described himself as a “sexist”. Farage dismissed the criticism during the campaign as “pub talk”.
Reform also turned down invitations to appear on the Sunday morning politics shows from Sky News and GB News — its preferred channel — citing the absence of a BBC bid. One spokesman said: “We don’t usually do one unless there is a BBC bid.”
The by-election saw turnout of nearly 59%, more than six points higher than at the 2024 general election. Some feared that high turnout would benefit the radical right, as in 2016. Instead, Burnham won comfortably. The New Statesman noted that while “people hate Keir Starmer… a lot of people hate Reform too”, pointing to the party’s habit of selecting “voter repellents” such as Kenyon and Matt Goodwin. Reform’s poll share has drifted from around 31% last autumn to perhaps 27% now. The question, as one internal source put it, is whether the party can broaden its appeal — or whether Thursday’s result was just the beginning of its slide.