Has Britain’s anti-immigration Reform UK party overtaken the Conservative Party in membership? This is what its leader Nigel Farage proclaims, but the figures he claims are strongly contested by the leader of the Tories, Kemi Badenoch.
As of Friday afternoon, the Reform UK website showed more than 143,000 members.
The day before, Nigel Farage, emblematic figure of Brexit, had assured that his party had for the first time more members than the Tories and now constituted “the real opposition”, rejoicing in a “historic moment”.
The conservatives had 131,680 declared members during the party leadership election, which resulted in the victory of Kemi Badenoch at the beginning of November. But since then, the party “has gained thousands of new members”, assures the opposition leader.
She on Thursday accused Nigel Farage of “manipulation” and “rigging”, saying Reform UK’s meter was increasing “automatically”.
Accusations described on Friday as “disgusting” by Nigel Farage, who said he was ready to ask an auditing company to verify the figures if the Conservatives agreed to do the same.
“I demand an apology from Ms. Badenoch,” he demanded on the social network .
Earlier, he had said that the digital counter had been set up “a few days ago” to identify people who register online as new members, upon payment of 25 pounds (30 euros).
– “Difficult” comparison –
According to an analysis published in 2022 by the House of Commons, it can be “difficult” to compare the number of party members, given that there is “no generally accepted definition” of what constitutes a adhesion, no more than a method to quantify it.
Questioned by AFP, Paul Webb, professor of political science at the University of Sussex, admitted having “no idea of the credibility of Reform UK’s claims”.
“What I do know, however, is that it is very difficult to find anything about its official procedures, or even if there are any,” judges this expert in political parties, wondering about “what who exactly constitutes membership in Reform, what are the conditions of membership, what are the rights of members.”
In the parliamentary elections in July, which saw Keir Starmer’s Labor Party come to power after 14 years of conservative governments, Reform UK gathered some 14% of the vote and entered Parliament with five seats.
Nigel Farage’s formation took many votes from the Tories, who suffered the worst defeat in their history. And the ambitions of his nationalist party, which is aiming for victory in the next elections in 2029, should worry conservatives.
According to recent polls, Reform UK has around 23% of voting intentions, behind the Conservative Party at 25% and the Labor Party at 26%.
Farage, now an MP, recently claimed to be in “negotiations” with billionaire Elon Musk over funding for his party. He met with X’s owner in mid-December at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The Briton, who displays his closeness to the American president-elect, even said he was willing to put these links at the service of the new British ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, a Labor Party figure, to negotiate with the next Republican administration. .
