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Nigel Farage has mentioned he’s contemplating taking authorized motion towards Kemi Badenoch, as he demanded an apology from the Conservative chief for accusing him of faking Reform UK’s membership numbers.
“I’m not going to take it mendacity down. it’s a fully outrageous factor for her to have mentioned,” Farage mentioned on Friday. “I’m asking Kemi Badenoch to apologise instantly for this intemperate outburst.”
Talking on a Zoom name to journalists, he mentioned: “I’m going to take some motion within the subsequent couple of days,” including that he was nonetheless deciding precisely which kind that may take.
Reform’s chair Zia Yusuf confirmed the Monetary Instances the code and underlying information underpinning the celebration’s membership numbers on Friday, offering sturdy proof that the tally was correct.
The Reform chief’s feedback got here in response to an accusation by Badenoch on Thursday that Reform had produced “faux” numbers, after Farage claimed his celebration’s membership had surpassed the Tories’ for the primary time.
In a submit on X, Badenoch responded by claiming that Reform’s counter had been “coded to tick up robotically”.
“We’ve been watching the again finish for days and also can see they’ve simply modified the code to hyperlink to a unique web site as folks level this out,” she added.
The general public spat is the primary time Badenoch has gone on the assault towards Farage and Reform, which is seen as one of many greatest threats to the Tory celebration because it seeks to rebuild its following its worst election defeat in historical past in July.
Yusuf posted a ballot on X on Thursday, asking: “Ought to Nigel Farage sue Kemi Badenoch for libel?”
Farage mentioned the Conservatives’ personal membership figures had been false and that he had proof they included individuals who had resigned from the celebration or handed away, as he renewed requires the Tory celebration to submit their membership figures to be externally audited.
The Reform chief mentioned he would fortunately have his celebration’s membership numbers audited yearly regardless of whether or not the Tories agreed to do the identical.
Badenoch “made a horrible mistake and he or she’s received this so fully, totally improper about us”, Farage mentioned. “She’s going to seek out life much more tough and bitterly remorse placing this out on Boxing Day afternoon.”
The row has drawn consideration to the truth that UK political events are usually not required to publish their membership numbers, and there’s no exterior physique accountable for auditing or verifying figures which can be revealed.
Although most events launch their tallies of their annual accounts or on their web site, the Conservatives don’t.
Reform’s on-line membership tracker confirmed on Friday the celebration had practically 142,500 members, in contrast with the 131,680 held by the Conservatives on the time of their management election final month.
The FT was proven the code for calculating and displaying Reform’s on-line tally, in addition to their dashboard created by NationBuilder, a 3rd celebration utility that the celebration makes use of to handle memberships and donations.
The demonstration offered sturdy proof that the net counter did correspond to the variety of members that had signed as much as Reform.
Increasing its membership is a precedence for Reform because it seeks to remodel from a start-up into a reputable political celebration.
To wage a profitable floor marketing campaign forward of native elections in Could of subsequent yr, Reform will want hundreds of supporters to knock on doorways canvassing voters and gathering information, in addition to to face as councillors in a whole lot of seats.
Farage mentioned on Friday that he believed “the overwhelming majority” of individuals becoming a member of Reform have “by no means been in a political celebration of their life”.
The Liberal Democrats and Greens state their membership figures on their web sites. The Lib Dems say they’ve “greater than 90,000” members, whereas the Greens say they’ve “greater than 59,000”.
The Labour celebration mentioned it had about 370,000 members in March of this yr.
The Conservative celebration didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
