Reform UK claims to be ‘real opposition’ with more members than Tories
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Nigel Farage heralds ‘historic moment’ as figure surpasses that of Conservatives when Kemi Badenoch took over. Reform UK has said it believes it now has more members than the Conservatives, surpassing 131,000 on Boxing Day. The party said it had hit the milestone of 131,680, which is the number of members the Conservatives had when Kemi Badenoch won the leadership election in the autumn.
In a stunt to mark the moment, Reform projected a message on to Conservative party HQ in the middle of the night, telling Badenoch that Nigel Farage’s party was the “real opposition” to Labour. Reform has been climbing in popularity since the general election, with opinion polls suggesting Farage has become one of the most popular politicians in the country since he was elected as an MP after many attempts.
He frequently scores highly on the proportion of people who have a favourable opinion of him, but also ranks highly on those with a negative opinion. A recent Ipsos survey found that he had a higher net favourability rating than either Keir Starmer or Rachel Reeves.
The party is targeting an expansion of its elected base at next May’s council elections, with the aim of supplanting the Conservatives in many places. “This is a big, historic moment,” Farage said of the membership numbers. “The youngest political party in British politics has just overtaken the oldest political party in the world. Reform UK are now the real opposition.”.
