TORY leader Kemi Badenoch asked GB News to cut the amount of airtime it gives to her rival Nigel Farage, reports say.
The Daily Mail reported that GB News chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos had met with Badenoch before Christmas and been threatened with regulatory action over the amount of time his channel gives to Farage.
The Reform UK leader has his own primetime television slot, from 7-8pm Monday to Thursday, on GB News. His fellow Reform MP Lee Anderson broadcasts from 7-8pm on Friday, while Martin Daubney – who was previously an MEP for Reform when it was known as the “Brexit Party” – hosts from 3-6pm every weekday afternoon.
Andrea Jenkyns, the hard-right former minister in Boris Johnson and Liz Truss’s governments who defected to Reform UK in November, also reports for GB News.
The Daily Mail reported that Badenoch – who is targeting many of the same voters as Farage – had raised concerns that GB News was “a haven for my critics”.
An ally of the Tory leader told that paper that the meeting had “mostly” been about her doing more work with the channel.
“She did ask about the status of programmes fronted by politicians and where GB News stood with the regulator”, they added.
“Kemi wants to ensure any media projects she does meet the highest standards of propriety.”
A Reform UK source hit out angrily at the Conservative leader, telling the Daily Mail: “Kemi believes the Tory Party has a God-given right to exist.
“This level of self-entitlement shows itself in her arrogance and bitterness. The Tory brand is dying under her leadership.”
The news comes after a bitter row between the two parties, who are each vying to represent the hard-right in UK politics.
Farage was accused of lying by Badenoch after he claimed over Christmas that Reform UK had overtaken the Tories in terms of membership. A digital counter on the Reform website showed a membership tally before lunchtime on Boxing Day ticking past the 131,680 figure declared by the Conservative Party during its leadership election earlier this year.
On Saturday, Farage urged Badenoch to apologise or face “action”.
Farage, on whether he was threatening legal action or not, told the PA news agency: “I haven’t threatened anything. I’ve just said that unless I get an apology, I will take some action.
“I haven’t said whether it’s legal or anything.”
He added: “All I’ve said is I want an apology. If I don’t get an apology, I will take action.
“I will decide in the next couple of days what that is. So I’ve not specified what it is.”
