Nigel Farage hints at legal action against Kemi Badenoch in Reform membership row
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But Tory leader claims own party tally has risen as she accuses Reform UK of ‘fakery’. Nigel Farage has hinted he could take legal action against Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch after she accused his Reform UK party of publishing fake statistics showing membership surpassing that of the Tories.
![[Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch claimed Reform UK’s counter was coded to tick up automatically]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/23/07/8eea2a0c7965b18b39c65695d6bbe9c0Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM1MDI0MTY5-2.78506698.jpg)
Ms Badenoch said the digital counter on Reform’s website was “coded to tick up automatically” when it recorded membership on Boxing Day morning ticking past the 131,680 figure declared by the Conservative Party earlier this year. She accused Reform UK of “fakery”.
Demanding an apology from Ms Badenoch for what he said were “disgraceful accusations of fraud and dishonesty”, he vowed to take some action in the next two days. “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.”.
He said he would confirm within two days what the action would be if she did not apologise for the “intemperate outburst”. It’s the latest twist in the spat between the two parties on the right of UK politics. Despite the dispute, Mr Farage said people were continuing to join the party with Reform UK’s ticker showing 143,968 members on Friday night.
Labour is the UK’s biggest political party, with 370,450 at the end of last year. As Ms Badenoch made her claim about the Reform UK figure being false, she also suggested the Conservatives’ own membership figures had risen in recent weeks, writing on social media: “For a party that pretends to hate the establishment so much, they are copying and pasting the fake Tony Blair/Alister [sic] Campbell’s spin book.
