Farage claims Conservative Party has less than 100,000 members and blasts Kemi Badenoch for calling Reform member numbers 'fake'
9 February 2025, 17:32 | Updated: 9 February 2025, 17:51
Nigel Farage claimed that Conservatives have less than 100,000 members, while Reform UK have more than 200,000 .
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Speaking at a Reform UK conference Nigel Farage claimed the Tories now have less than 100,000 members, while Reform has more than 200,000 members.
The conference is being held in Trowbridge, Wiltshire today, featuring a live membership counter on the stage.
Speaking on the stage, Farage said that "We are going to replace them (Labour)."
He added: "We're coming for them, don't you worry about that."
The political leader claimed the Conservatives gave out less than 131,680 ballot papers in their last leadership election.
Badenoch previously accused Farage of "fakery" in response to Reform claiming they had surpassed the Tories in signed-up members.
Mrs Badenoch said Reform's counter was "coded to tick up automatically".
A digital counter on the Reform website showed a membership tally before lunchtime on Boxing Day ticking past the 131,680 figure declared by the Conservative Party during its leadership election earlier this year.
Mr Farage, in a statement issued on Mr Musk's social media site X, said the accusations of "fraud and dishonesty" made against him were "disgraceful".
He said Reform had opened up its systems to media outlets, including The Daily Telegraph and The Financial Times, in the "interests of full transparency to verify that our data is correct".
He added: "I am now demanding Kemi Badenoch apologises."
Mr Farage, on whether he was threatening legal action or not, told the PA news agency: "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."
He added: "All I've said is I want an apology. If I don't get an apology, I will take action.
"I will decide in the next couple of days what that is. So I've not specified what it is."
Mr Farage went on: "She (Mrs Badenoch) has put out this crazy conspiracy theory and she needs to apologise."
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He also promised a 'net zero' policy on immigration, if the party comes into power.
Farage said: "No population rise, through immigration, is a promise we make to you".
He claimed that previous Conservative governments did little to 'secure our borders'.
He continued: "I maintain that a ten million increase in the population of our country over the course of the last twenty years has devalued the living standards of everybody in this country."
Farage believed that the lack of affordable housing, difficulty in securing GP appointments and overloaded roads were issues that can be blamed on an increased population due to migrants.
He said, if Reform UK came to power: "There will be no more population increase through immigration, for many years to come, until we get some hope of sorting out the mess we're in."
Farage claimed only 20% of migrants to the UK are working.
He added: "Anyone that comes here illegally, will be deported. Simple as that."
The Reform UK leader said Brexit was about 'taking control of our borders', but he claimed the the Conservative government, under Boris Johnson, failed to secure British borders.
He said: "It is as big of betrayal as there has ever been in political history, and they must never ever be forgiven for doing it."
The Reform UK conference was met with protests outside.
One placard read 'Nigel Farage creates recreational hate'.
Another said 'Love not hate', and 'refugees welcome'.
