Reform UK has surpassed the Conservative Party in membership numbers, with Nigel Farage declaring it to be “the real opposition”, while Kemi Badenoch disputes the numbers as “fake”.
As per a digital counter on the party’s website, Reform UK exceeded 131,690 members – the amount the Conservative Party reported before its leadership election in the autumn – just before midday on Boxing Day.
Mr Farage, the party leader and MP for Clacton-on-Sea, celebrated the “historic moment” and stated on X: “The youngest political party in British politics has just overtaken the oldest political party in the world. Reform UK is now the real opposition.”
However, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch criticized the party for providing misleading figures: “Manipulating your own supporters at Xmas eh, Nigel?. It’s not real. It’s a fake… [the website has been] coded to tick up automatically.”
In a post on X, she added that the Tories had “gained thousands of new members since the leadership election”.
Reform UK also released a video of the membership tracker being projected onto the Conservative Party headquarters in London overnight.
Zia Yusuf, party chairman, also stated “history has been made today” and that the Tories’ “centuries-long stranglehold on the centre-right of British politics” has “finally been broken”.
Mr Farage responded to Ms Badenoch’s criticism by claiming to have evidence and posting a screenshot of an online register showing ‘active memberships’.
“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 deteriorating under your leadership. However, this is not an excuse to accuse us of fraud,” he wrote on X.
Mr Yusuf added to the conversation by appearing to challenge Ms Badenoch about an audit: “We will gladly invite a Big 4 audit firm to verify our membership numbers on the condition that you do the same.”
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Nigel Farage said Reform UK is ‘now the real opposition’ after the ‘historic moment’. Pic: Reuters
The Conservative party membership figure – shared after Kemi Badenoch was announced as the new leader on 2 November – was the lowest on record and a drop from the 2022 leadership contest, when there were around 172,000 members.
In response, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “Reform has delivered a Labour Government that has cruelly cut winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, put the future of family farming and food security at risk, and launched a devastating raid on jobs which will leave working people paying the price.
“A vote for Reform this coming May is a vote for a Labour council – only the Conservatives can stop this.”
According to research from the House of Commons Library, there is no uniformly recognised definition of party membership and no established method or body to monitor the number of members each political group has.
Reform UK was also originally set up as a limited company, but Mr Farage said he would change the party’s structure to be member-owned in September.
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These developments come after Mr Farage offered assistance to Lord Mandelson, the new ambassador to the US, to negotiate with president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
A long-time associate of Mr Trump, he has been seen at several Republican events during and after the presidential election.