Badenoch and Farage clash over ‘fake members’

Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage have accused each other of faking their parties’ membership numbers in a row over whether Reform UK has overtaken the Tories.

On Thursday morning, Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader, said his party had more members than the Conservatives for the first time.

Mrs Badenoch then claimed he was faking the numbers – only for Mr Farage to say that the Tories’ membership figures were fabricated.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, the Tory leader alleged that Reform’s online membership tracker was “not real” and analysis of the website showed that it automatically increased, regardless of the real number of members.

“Manipulating your own supporters at Xmas eh, Nigel?” she said. “Farage doesn’t understand the digital age. This kind of fakery gets found out pretty quickly, although not before many are fooled.”

Mr Farage responded: “We understand you are bitter, upset and angry that we are now the second biggest party in British politics, and that the Conservative brand is dying under your leadership.

“However, this [is] not an excuse to accuse us of committing fraud. We will gladly invite one of the Big 4 firms in to audit our membership numbers as long as you do the same.”

He claimed that Tory leadership election ballot papers had been sent to people who were no longer members, adding: “It’s an open secret at CCHQ [Conservative Campaign Headquarters] that your membership numbers are fake.”

The clash comes as the two parties battle to dominate the Right wing of British politics. Mr Farage’s party appears to be in the ascendancy, having won five seats at the general election, and polls have since shown a further surge in support.

Since taking over from Rishi Sunak in November, Mrs Badenoch has been trying to repair trust in the Tories after a disastrous election result. She has said it will take time, but has been urged to prioritise new immigration policies to take the battle to Reform.

On Thursday night, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said: “The Tory party needs to learn from its history. Post-war, it reinvigorated the local voluntary party and reached two million members. If it can be properly Conservative and trust its own supporters, then it will grow again. If it keeps on speaking Right and acting Left, as Kemi Badenoch put it, we won’t.”

Asked whether it was a wake-up call for the Tory leader, another former Cabinet minister told The Telegraph: “She needs to stay focused on rebuilding and re-energising the party, based on strong leadership and values, and being an effective opposition.”

Mr Farage was supporting the Elham Boxing Day hunt in Kent when Reform’s online tracker put the number of members at 131,712 surpassing the last known Tory total of 131,680. By Thursday evening it was showing almost 136,000 members.

He said: “This is a historic moment. The youngest political party in British politics has just overtaken the oldest political party in the world. Reform UK are now the real opposition.”

Credit: Heathcliff O’Malley

But in her five-part post on X, Mrs Badenoch claimed she knew “for certain” that Reform did not have more supporters than the Tories because her party had gained “thousands of new members” since she took over as leader.

She wrote: “Like many of you, I am sick of the endless lies, smoke and mirrors, stuff and nonsense politics. For a party that pretends to hate the establishment so much, they are copying and pasting the fake Tony Blair/[Alastair] Campbell spin book. Why does it matter…?

“Because millions of good people in our country are crying out for hope…some of them think Reform are the answer. But as we saw today, Reform will let them down. They’ll say anything for cheap media hits because they have no plan underneath. Just rage against the machine.

“The Conservative Party is under new leadership, and 2025 is going to be about hard, unvarnished truths. Many of those truths will be difficult for my party and for the country.

We’re in opposition because previous governments made mistake[s]. We have to do things differently. We won’t fix what has gone wrong over the last 30 years with rage, but with courage. Telling the truth takes bravery.

“And on a final note… How do I know for certain the Reform announcement is not true? Because the Conservative Party has gained thousands of new members since the leadership election. But we don’t shout about it… we are building quietly and steadily on principles and values, not gimmicks.

“The road ahead is long and difficult. But our first mission is to win the trust of the British people – you don’t do that by manipulating them at Christmas.”

Reform posted a screenshot on X, purporting to show its true membership numbers.

The caption read: “Hi Kemi, this is very embarrassing for you. Here is a screenshot of our internal membership numbers. Whether you like it or not, we have more members. We are the real opposition.” Zia Yusuf, the Reform chairman, also mocked Mrs Badenoch’s claims.

It comes three weeks after Reform overtook Labour in a national opinion poll for the first time, just two points short of the Tories.

The survey by Find Out Now, conducted on Dec 4, put Reform on 24 per cent of public support, ahead of Labour on 23 per cent and just behind the Conservatives on 26 per cent. While the result was an outlier, Reform is consistently placing third, above the Lib Dems.

Mr Farage and Mr Yusuf are now focused on May’s county council elections. The party says it will have to win more than 100 councillors if it is to pose a credible challenge to Labour.

Reform membership has surged thanks to an influx of younger members attracted by a cheaper fee of £10 for those aged 25 and under. At the weekend, Mr Farage announced that 1,000 young people had joined the party in less than 48 hours.

The Conservatives do not regularly publish their membership numbers. The latest figure was released in November, when members elected Mrs Badenoch as leader.

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