Nigel Farage has said he will take action against Kemi Badenoch unless she apologises 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 the rival party had coded an online counter to tick up automatically.
Farage had been celebrating surpassing more than 130,000 Reform members on Boxing Day – surpassing the number of Tory members when Badenoch was elected as party leader in the autumn.
Badenoch reacted 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.
On Friday, Farage said the allegations were “disgraceful” and he was demanding an apology. “I’m going to take some action in the next couple of days,” he told journalists. “I’ve got to decide exactly what it is, but I’m certainly not going to take it lying down.
“I think it’s an absolutely outrageous thing for her to have said. I know she’s got a very bad temper. I know she’s well known for lashing out at people, but I am not at all happy, and I’m going to take some action.”
But a Tory source told Sky News: “[Farage] is clearly rattled that his Boxing Day publicity stunt is facing serious questions … Like most normal people around the UK, Kemi is enjoying Christmas with her family and looking forward to taking on the challenges of renewing the Conservative party in the new year.”
The row appears to have further boosted Reform’s membership numbers with more than 143,000 people signed up, according to its website. The Conservative party had 131,680 members as of the November leadership contest, while Labour had 366,604 members as of March 2024.
