The emphatic defeat suffered by Nigel Farage¡¯s Reform party in Thursday¡¯s Makerfield by-election laid bare political handicaps that threaten his ambition to reach 10 Downing Street.
Despite sweeping up all the seats on offer in the area¡¯s local elections just six weeks ago, Reform sank to a heavier-than-expected defeat in the standalone parliamentary election. While the popularity of Labour¡¯s Andy Burnham was key to that result, Reform¡¯s Robert Kenyon was also hampered by old social media posts that were received as sexist and homophobic.?
A senior Reform official said the party had to recruit better candidates ¡ª what he called a need to professionalize. The vote also highlighted a gender gap resulting from a failure to appeal to women. A pre-election Survation poll showed women supported Burnham over Kenyon by 53% to 32%. Men, by contrast, preferred Kenyon to Burnham by a hefty margin.
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