Farage and Badenoch trade reports of bogus party membership figures

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Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch accused each other of having fake membership numbers on Thursday after Reform UK claimed it had more members than the Conservatives for the first time.

Change it said it had more than 135,000 members on Thursday, according to the party’s online report, surpassing the Tory’s 131,860 members when Badenoch was elected opposition leader last month.

“This is a huge moment in history,” Farage said on Thursday. “Britain’s youngest political party has just overtaken the world’s oldest political party. Reform UK is now the real opposition. ”

But Tory leader Badenoch said Reform’s numbers “were not real” and that the internet was a “lie” and “self-made code”.

“Cheating your supporters at Christmas eh, Nigel?” said in a post by X. Badenoch added that the Tories had gained “thousands” of new members since he was elected leader.

Farage replied that he would “be happy to invite one of the big 4 firms to check our membership numbers as long as you do the same”.

“It’s an open secret at CCHQ that your membership numbers are fake,” he added, referring to Conservative party headquarters.

Brexit expert and now MP, Farage sought to capitalize on the Tories’ worst defeat in July’s general election history and claimed at a press conference this month that the Tory “brand is broken”.

The revolution has increased in the opinion polls since the general election, when it won five Parliaments with a vote share of 14%. The overall vote this month put it at 23 per cent, not far behind the Tories on 25 per cent and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor party on 26 per cent.

Farage has also been boosted by a rebellion from the Tories and endorsements from powerful figures such as tech billionaire Elon Musk, raising alarm in the Conservative and Labor parties, even though the next UK election is not expected until 2029.

Farage has sought to strengthen the Reform campaign in areas where he won support in previous elections, such as Essex, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Wales.

The party has said it wants to emulate the electoral tactics used by the Liberal Democrats, who traditionally target small seats in local and national elections, honing their messages and policies to candidates in those areas.

The change is trying to recruit thousands of supporters who are willing to gather and gather information for the party, as well as stand as councilors in next year’s local elections. The party hopes to win hundreds of council seats in local elections in May, as well as at least one mayor.

Change gained momentum this month when Farage met Musk in the US and said the tech billionaire is considering making a big donation to his populist party.

A major financial contribution could help transform Reform’s assets, allowing it to fund a major expansion of its ground operations and an advertising campaign to grow its base.

Several Conservatives have defected to Reform in recent weeks, including former Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns, and the husband of former home secretary Suella Braverman.

Former Tory donor Nick Candy also switched to the party earlier this month to become its treasurer and lead fundraising. He pledged to give away at least £1mn of his own money.

The Labor Party has around 370,000 members, down from its peak of 564,500 in 2017 when crowds flocked to support former leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The Liberal Democrats have around 80,000 members, while the Green party has around 50,000.

Political parties in the UK are not required to publish membership numbers. While most parties publish their figures in their annual accounts, the Conservatives do not.

During the party’s leadership election last month, the chairman of the 1922 committee said that the number of “qualified candidates” in the party was 131,680.