'She should apologise!' Farage warns Badenoch of legal action after Reform UK shows numbers proving membership milestone

A live-tracker showed the revamped Brexit Party soaring past the Tories just before midday yesterday.

After hailing the milestone as a "historic moment", Farage shared a video projecting the soaring tally on Conservative Campaign Party Headquarters in Westminster.

Badenoch bit back in the early afternoon, accusing the Reform UK leader of ticking the tally up with “fake” numbers.

“I’m not going to take it lying down," Farage said on Friday. "It’s an absolutely outrageous thing for her to have said.

“I am asking Kemi Badenoch to apologise immediately for this intemperate outburst.”

Farage appeared to take a huge step towards proving his point after inviting a number of journalists to inspect the data on Reform UK's Nation Builder platform.

Probed on whether he would consider legal action, Farage revealed: “I’m going to take some action in the next couple of days, and I’ve got to decide exactly what it is.

"But I’m certainly not going to take it lying down. It’s an absolutely outrageous thing for her to have said.

• 'It is barmy!' Ex-Labour adviser blasts Kemi Badenoch for 'picking a fight' with Nigel Farage
• Farage hits out at 'bitter' Badenoch over claims Reform UK 'faked' membership milestone
• Reform UK soars past Tories in monumental membership milestone as Farage hails 'historic' shift

“Now I know she’s got a very bad temper, I know she’s well known for lashing out at people. I’m not at all happy and I’m going to take some action. Exactly what it’ll be, I’ll let you know within two days.

“Once we’ve fully disproved this, she’s going to find life a lot more difficult and bitterly regret putting this out on Boxing Day afternoon.”

He added: “The accusations of fraud and dishonesty made against me yesterday were disgraceful, and we have opened up our systems to The Telegraph, The Spectator, Sky News and The FT in the interests of full transparency.

“I am asking Kemi Badenoch to apologise immediately for this intemperate outburst.”

Journalists who look over the numbers left concluding that the data provided "strong evidence that the ticker was not automated" after being based on "verified membership data".

The Financial Times said: "The demonstration provided strong evidence that the online counter did correspond to the number of members that had signed up to Reform."

Sky News's Ben van der Merwe added: "In fact, it all looks perfectly normal. Membership applications decline overnight, then rise in the morning.

"At around 11am, when news about Reform UK having more members than the Tories started going viral, the number of new members surged. None of this is what you'd expect from a pre-programmed ticker."

He concluded: "The numbers did indeed match up."

However, a Tory source told GB News: "Fake Farage is clearly rattled that his Boxing Day Publicity Stunt is facing serious questions over a fake clock and hundreds of 'members' seemingly joining in the middle of the night.

"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."

Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf, who invited the group of journalists to inspect the populist party's membership data, already hinted at potential legal action.

In a post to his X followers yesterday, Yusuf asked: "Should Nigel Farage sue Kemi Badenoch for libel?"

The populist party's membership total continues to soar after the social media spat between Farage and Badenoch, exceeding 140,000 earlier today.

Badenoch's five-party thread accused Farage of "manipulating" his supporters on Christmas.

She also added that the Tories had "gained thousands of new members since the leadership election".

Farage initially responded by labelling the Leader of the Opposition as "bitter", later inviting the Tories to let one of the "big four" accountancy firms audit both parties' membership levels.