Farage warns Badenoch will face 'action' if she does not apologise for Reform numbers row
Reform UK Deputy leader, Richard Tice, says Kemi Badenoch is leading the her party to "oblivion" after the Tory leader accused Reform of 'manipulating' its membership figures as ITV News' Harry Horton explains
Nigel Farage has said Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch will face "action" if she does not apologise for claims Reform UK faked its membership numbers.
On Boxing Day, the Reform website displayed a digital ticker, showing its membership tally surpassing 131,680 - the number of members the Conservative Party said it had during its leadership election earlier this year.
Badenoch accused Farage of "fakery", and claimed the counter was "coded to tick up automatically".
Farage hit back at the comments, defending Reform's membership data and demanding the Tory leader apologise.
He said: “She has put out this crazy conspiracy theory and she needs to apologise.”
Asked whether he was threatening legal action against her, he said: “I haven’t threatened anything. I’ve just said that unless I get an apology, I will take some action. I haven’t said whether it’s legal or anything.”
“All I’ve said is I want an apology. If I don’t get an apology, I will take action," Farage added.
On Saturday, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice appeared to push back further against suggestions of legal action, saying he hoped Badenoch would “do the right thing” and apologise.
He also conceded that not every Reform member was necessarily entitled to vote in the UK, saying there was a difference between being joining a political party and being eligible to vote.
Tice told ITV News he believes there is "no enthusiasm" for the Conservative party.
"There's no excitement about the party that she's leading potentially towards oblivion"
This is the first real occasion that Badenoch has gone on the attack against Farage and Reform.
Badenoch, in a series of messages posted on X on Boxing Day, said: “Farage doesn’t understand the digital age. This kind of fakery gets found out pretty quickly, although not before many are fooled.”
She went on to claim the party had gained thousands of new members since she was elected leader of the party.
A Conservative Party source claimed Mr Farage was “rattled” that his Boxing Day “publicity stunt is facing serious questions” but the party have not commented further.
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