Allies of Kemi Badenoch have dismissed as “nonsense” claims that she asked GB News to cut airtime for Nigel Farage.
It follows a row in which the Tory leader accused Reform of faking its membership numbers. Farage said Reform surpassed the Tories in membership on Boxing Day and has called on Badenoch to apologise for her accusations that the figures are manipulated.
In a fresh twist, Badenoch was reported by the Mail on Sunday to have raised Farage’s prominence on GB News, where he is a presenter, in a meeting with the channel’s chief executive. She is reported to have warned against the broadcaster becoming a haven for her critics.
Sources close to Badenoch said the account was totally wrong and the story should be ignored.
A GB News spokesperson said: “The meeting took place without any acrimony and was very constructive.”
However, GB News reported on the Mail on Sunday story on its Ben Leo show on Saturday night, with its presenter saying it was an “extraordinary” development. The presenter said they had invited Badenoch and any members of the shadow cabinet to appear on GB News since Boxing Day and had been met with “stonewall silence”.
The programme subsequently played a clip of Badenoch saying she never makes any gaffes because she considers carefully what she says before speaking.
The spat between Badenoch and Farage over the membership numbers has caused unease among some Conservatives who would like to see the two parties draw closer together rather than attacking each other.
Andrea Jenkyns, a former Tory MP who defected to Reform, told GB News on Sunday that Badenoch had “trampled on any potential relationship” between the Tories and Reform.
Badenoch has not commented so far on Farage’s calls for an apology but her allies have claimed the Reform leader is “rattled” by her intervention.
Farage has said he will take action against Badenoch unless she says sorry for accusing him of publishing fake Reform membership data.
The Reform leader said he had opened up his database to media organisations after Badenoch claimed his party had coded an online counter to tick up automatically.
Farage had been celebrating surpassing more than 130,000 Reform members on Boxing Day, exceeding the number of Tory members when Badenoch was elected as party leader in the autumn.
Badenoch responded with a thread on X accusing Farage and Reform of “manipulating” the public and presenting fake figures with an online ticker that was automated and not based on real people joining.
Farage’s party appears to be growing in support. Although another election is four years away, a new poll for the Sunday Times by More in Common found that Labour could lose its majority if a new contest were to be held now.
People’s voting intentions are unlikely to be settled this far out from an election but the poll found that Labour would still be the largest party with 228 seats, the Tories would be in second place on 222 seats, Reform party would climb to third place with 72 MPs, the Liberal Democrats would fall to fourth on 58 seats and the SNP would be in fifth on 37 seats.
