Nigel Farage boasts of larger social media following than Kemi Badenoch in party membership numbers row

Nigel Farage compared his and Kemi Badenoch's social media following as he hit out at the Conservative leader's accusation of “fakery” over claims that Reform UK membership has surpassed the Tories, making it the second-largest political party in the UK.

The row came after a digital counter on the Reform website showed a membership tally before lunchtime on Boxing Day going past the 131,680 figure declared by the Conservative Party during its leadership election earlier this year.

Ms Badenoch claimed Reform’s counter was “coded to tick up automatically."

Speaking to GB News on Friday, 27 December, Mr Farage said: “To accuse me of not understanding the digital age when I’ve got five-and-a-half million followers on social media and she’s got fewer than a third of a million frankly was a bit rich.”