Nigel Farage calls for Kemi Badenoch seem on GB News to apologise for accusing him of mendacity about his social gathering’s membership
Nigel Farage has demanded Kemi Badenoch appear on GB News to apologise for accusing him of lying about the size of his party’s membership.
The Reform leader challenged his Tory opposite number after reports that she had accused the television station of ‘favouring’ him.
She is reported to have urged its chief to cut the airtime given to her rival, who hosts a prime-time show on the channel.
While sources close to the Tory leader have dismissed the claims as ‘nonsense’, the Reform leader continued to stoke the row yesterday.
He tweeted: ‘Kemi talks about compet[it]ion being a good thing but now we see that she wants me taken off air.
‘Maybe her first priority should be to go on GB News today and apologise for calling me dishonest. Her two days of silence [are] deafening.’
His intervention follows reports that the Tory leader accused GB News of giving too much of a platform to her critics – and even raised the prospect of regulatory action.
The feud began on Boxing Day after Mr Farage claimed that his party has more members than the Tories – which Mrs Badenoch branded ‘fakery’.
Nigel Farage challenged his Tory opposite number after reports that she had accused the television station of ‘favouring’ him
Kemi Badenoch publicly accused Farage of lying about the numbers joining his party after he claimed on Boxing Day that its membership had overtaken the Conservative Party’s
He has demanded she apologise or face ‘action’ over the claim which he has branded a ‘crazy conspiracy theory’.
In an escalation of the row yesterday, the Mail on Sunday reported that the broadcaster’s chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos was called in to speak to Ms Badenoch before Christmas.
She is said to have made it clear that GB News should not be ‘a haven for my critics’. The channel’s hosts include Mr Farage, Reform MP Lee Anderson and former Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns.
While both sides have denied any acrimony, sources close to her confirmed that she had raised the regulatory implications over Mr Farage being both a politician and broadcaster.
GB News sources admitted to the paper that she had highlighted the amount of airtime given to Mr Farage and said it was agreed that the Tory leader should appear on the channel more often.
An ally of Mrs Badenoch said: ‘Kemi had a good meeting with GB News, which was mostly about her doing more with the channel.
‘She did ask about the status of programmes fronted by politicians and where GB News stood with the regulator. Kemi wants to ensure any media projects she does meet the highest standards of propriety.
‘The meeting was very friendly and, as leader of the Opposition, she will continue to have such discussions with the media.’
A counter was installed on Reform’s website to mark the ‘historic moment’ they overtook the last known Tory membership figure
In a series of social media posts on Boxing Day, Mrs Badenoch claimed the Reform counter is ‘a fake’ and is ‘coded to tick up automatically’
A GB News spokesman said the ‘very constructive’ meeting took place without acrimony.
The row came after the Reform leader declared on Boxing Day on GB News that his party had passed the 131,680 members the Tories said they had during the leadership election.
Ms Badenoch claimed in response that Reform’s numbers were ‘not real’ and that a membership counter on the party website was ‘fake’ and that its counter was ‘coded to tick up automatically’.
She added: ‘This kind of fakery gets found out pretty quickly, although not before many are fooled.’
In a further escalation, social media platform X – owned by Mr Farage’s ally Elon Musk – put a fact-check alert on her tweet.
A community note on the post said: ‘This claim is false. It’s not a “fake ticker”.’
In response, Mr Farage said the accusations of ‘fraud and dishonesty’ made against him were ‘disgraceful’.
He has demanded an apology – and also claimed that whistleblowers had told him that ballots were sent to former members during the leadership election.
He has also threatened ‘action’ – though has pushed back against reports it could be legal – and is said to be spending the weekend weighing up options.
A Conservative Party source claimed Mr Farage was ‘rattled’ that his Boxing Day ‘publicity stunt is facing serious questions’.
There were 131,680 Conservative members eligible to vote during the party’s leadership election to replace Rishi Sunak in the autumn.
Ms Badenoch has claimed that ‘the Conservative Party has gained thousands of new members since the leadership election’.
