Carol Vorderman has demanded an apology from the Reform UK candidate in the upcoming Makerfield byelection for “disgusting comments” he made about her on social media in the past.

The broadcaster and former Countdown numbers expert described Robert Kenyon, who Reform has backed to face Andy Burnham in next month’s vote, as a “cowardly man” for a series of offensive posts made by the Wigan councillor that have since been deleted, along with his account.

Vorderman, who last week posted a video in which she described Kenyon as a misogynist who made “disgusting comments”, told the Daily Mirror on Tuesday that she wanted “an apology from Rob Kenyon, to me, and to all the other people he’s abused online”.

Danny Kruger, who joined Reform last September, defended Kenyon’s comments, telling BBC Radio 4 on Monday that while his posts were “inappropriate”, they were not viewed as serious enough within the party for Kenyon to be pulled as their byelection candidate. Kruger said he was “not going to judge people for what are essentially regarded at the time and intended as private conversations”.

Kruger conceded it was “clearly wrong for politicians to talk in that way”, but added: “He was not a politician at the time, he was an ordinary man from an ordinary place, and what he’s done now is step forward, outraged at the state of our country and the state of his community.”

Vorderman dismissed Kruger’s response, saying that being an “ordinary man” was no excuse and the fact that Kenyon’s posts were made publicly meant they should be considered as online abuse.

“I’m 65, I grew up in north Wales in abject poverty, I spent half of my life living in the north, whether it was Leeds, or Manchester, or that strip of north Wales,” said Vorderman. “And he says Kenyon is just an ordinary man saying ordinary things. No, I’m sorry, Kenyon isn’t an ordinary man. He’s a cowardly man, which is why he deleted one of his social media accounts.

“They are public comments on a public platform and if Danny Kruger thinks online abuse is OK then Reform are therefore stating online abuse against women is OK, then all women in Makerfield need to know that.”

Labour’s Angela Rayner also criticised the comments, telling the Mirror that “it says all you need to know about Reform that they are allowing this repulsive misogynistic abuse to stand.”

More comments from Kenyon have been found on other social media sites, including posts made on a rugby league forum in 2019. Posts unearthed by the I Paper found that Kenyon had claimed that women who have abortions get them for “vanity purposes” and so they can “shag anyone they want”, while a separate investigation by the Independent found that Kenyon had posted that women can’t “ref, drive or give directions”, that women presenting rugby games on TV “aren’t up to the job and only there to tick a box” and that he had declared: “I’m sexist, sorry but I am.”

Regarding Kenyon’s posts on the forum, a Reform spokesperson said: “These comments were made before Cllr Kenyon entered politics. Rob is perfectly entitled to his own personal opinions on abortion.

“In this country, this issue has always been a matter of conscience, regardless of which party a politician represents. Rob isn’t a polished, professional politician and doesn’t speak like one. That’s precisely why he’ll be a straight-talking, effective voice for normal working people in Makerfield.”

Reform and Wigan council have been contacted for a response.