Farage Targets Badenoch's Seat After Tory Leader Accuses Reform UK of Lying About Membership Numbers

Farage Targets Badenoch's Seat After Tory Leader Accuses Reform UK of Lying

Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, has announced plans to target Kemi Badenoch's seat at the next election. This comes after the Conservative Party leader accused Reform UK of lying about its membership numbers.

Speaking in Ms Badenoch's North West Essex constituency, Mr Farage called the Conservative Party leader a "ranting raving conspiracy theorist." He responded to calls from the audience to sue Ms Badenoch by hinting that he would not do so.

Mr Farage explained that suing someone requires proof of actual harm. He then suggested that Ms Badenoch's comments had actually helped his party recruit "thousands" of new members.

He announced a meeting for Reform UK members in North West Essex on the 31st of the month, stating that there are now 400 members in the constituency. He plans to take a group picture and send it to the current MP, Ms Badenoch, to show her "who the fake members are."

Mr Farage further stated that due to Ms Badenoch's "rudeness" and "unpleasantness," Reform UK will now dedicate time, money, and resources to targeting her seat at the next general election.

This announcement follows a December thread on X where Ms Badenoch claimed that Reform UK's live member ticker was "fake" and "coded to tick up automatically." She added that "Farage doesn't understand the digital age."

In the 2024 general election, Ms Badenoch received 35.6% of the vote, while the Reform UK candidate, Grant StClair-Armstrong, received 14.1%. This means that Reform UK would need to close a 21.5% gap to win the seat at the next election.