Tories would be ‘aghast’ if Badenoch did not apologise, says Reform deputy leader ...Middle East

Tory MPs would be “aghast” if Kemi Badenoch did not apologise for accusing Reform UK of faking its membership numbers, Reform’s deputy leader has said.

Richard Tice told Times Radio the Conservative leader should apologise for making the claim, but stopped short of saying the party would take legal action against her if she did not.

Earlier this week, Badenoch accused Farage of “fakery” in response to Reform claiming they had surpassed the Tories in signed-up members.

In response, Mr Tice said: “It’s like in business, the first loss is the best loss. She should just recognise and actually get some credit for saying ‘look, I got this wrong, had a bit of a dodgy Christmas pudding or whatever’ and just apologise. It looks ridiculous.”

He added: “Let’s see what happens in the new year, let’s hope she does the right thing, the sensible thing and then we can go into the new year with a clean slate, ready for the debates and the battles, the political battles ahead, to try and get our country back on track.

“I hope she does the right thing and apologise and just move on, otherwise I suspect she’ll have 120 Tory MPs behind her aghast at her misstep during this festive season.”

Farage has said he will spend the weekend weighing up what action to take if Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch ignores his calls for an apology over the “crazy conspiracy theory”.

Badenoch has claimed that Reform’s online membership 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.

Farage pushed back against reports suggesting that legal action would be the next step, as officials from both parties continued the row.

Farage, in a statement issued on 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.”

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.”

Farage went on: “She (Mrs Badenoch) has put out this crazy conspiracy theory and she needs to apologise.”

On why Mrs Badenoch had reacted as she did, Farage said: “I would imagine she was at home without anybody advising her and was just angry.”

A Conservative Party source claimed Farage was “rattled” that his Boxing Day “publicity stunt is facing serious questions”.

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They added: “Like most normal people around the UK, Kemi is enjoying Christmas with her family and looking forward to taking on the challenges of renewing the Conservative Party in the New Year.”

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.”

There were 131,680 Conservative members eligible to vote during the party’s leadership election to replace Rishi Sunak in the autumn.

Mrs Badenoch claimed in her thread that “the Conservative Party has gained thousands of new members since the leadership election”.

Elsewhere, Farage used an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper to describe Musk as a “bloody hero”.

He said: “The shades, the bomber jacket, the whole vibe. Elon makes us cool – Elon is a huge help to us with the young generation, and that will be the case going on and, frankly, that’s only just starting.

“Reform only wins the next election if it gets the youth vote. The youth vote is the key.”

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