Nigel Farage says Reform UK now Britain’s second-largest party, takes swipe at Conservatives over membership

Nigel Farage has called on Britain’s opposition Conservative Party to conduct an audit of its membership numbers after claiming his Reform UK party has surpassed the Tories in size.

Farage, the prominent Brexiteer, declared Reform the “real opposition” during the holiday season, unveiling a digital tracker to count new members and asserting that his party now exceeds the 131,680 members reported by the Conservatives during November’s leadership contest.

Kemi Badenoch, who won that contest, dismissed Farage’s claim on X, accusing him of “manipulating” membership figures and suggesting the tracker was “coded to tick up automatically.”

Farage responded by offering to have Reform’s membership independently audited by one of the “Big Four” accountancy firms — provided the Conservatives agree to the same. He alleged that “Tory whistleblowers” had informed him that ballots for the leadership vote were sent to lapsed or resigned members. The Conservative Party has not responded to the challenge, POLITICO reported.

Reform UK made significant inroads during the summer election, capturing 4 million votes and securing five parliamentary seats. The party is now targeting the governing Labour Party, with one poll suggesting it has overtaken Keir Starmer’s Labour in support.

The dispute escalated when Farage attended a traditional Boxing Day fox hunt, where he claimed the “historic moment” his party overtook the Conservatives. Reform projected its membership ticker onto Conservative Party headquarters, turning the building turquoise and playing a message directed at Badenoch: “Merry Christmas, Kemi!”

Badenoch cast doubt on the membership figures, stating: “We’ve been watching the back end for days and can also see they’ve just changed the code to link to a different site…Farage doesn’t understand the digital age. This kind of fakery gets found out pretty quickly, although not before many are fooled.”

Farage fired back, accusing Badenoch of being “bitter” and claiming, “We are now the second biggest party in British politics, and that the Conservative brand is dying under your leadership.”

Reform Chair Zia Yusuf later released screenshots purporting to confirm the membership numbers, POLITICO reported.

Critics pointed out that party membership does not guarantee electoral success. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had 560,000 members at his peak but suffered a historic defeat in 2019. The upcoming local elections in May will test whether Farage’s party can turn its growing base into electoral gains.

A recent YouGov poll for The Times showed low favourability ratings for all major party leaders, with Starmer at -41, Farage at -34, and Badenoch at -31.