Reform UK is ramping up efforts to topple Kemi Badenoch after energised members were left feeling “insulted” by the Leader of the Opposition’s Boxing Day attack.
Nigel Farage had already confirmed that Reform UK had set its sights on Badenoch’s North West Essex seat following the pair’s bust-up over membership figures.
Badenoch claimed Reform UK’s membership ticker was “fake” after it showed the populist party soaring past the Tories on December 26.
Farage had hinted about taking legal action against the Leader of the Opposition after journalists verified Reform UK’s membership tally.
Nigel Farage speaking at Chelmsford City Racecourse
REFORM UK
However, the Clacton MP instead decided to add North West Essex to a growing list of target seats.
Speaking at Reform UK’s East of England conference at Chelmsford City Racecourse, Farage said: “I’ve gone for a different approach and on January 31 I will be holding a meeting for the North West Essex members of Reform and there’s now 400 of them.
“They can come along, meet me, all get a free photograph and I’ll do a big group picture that I will send to the current MP to show us who the fake members are.
“And Kemi because you’ve been so rude, so unpleasant, the accusations you made against me are so wrong, I promise you that we as a party now will put time, money, resources, this will become a target seat for us at the next General Election.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Reform UK members at Chelmsford City Racecourse
PA
Farage would later receive a standing ovation after pulling up Reform UK’s membership tracker as it surpassed 170,000, opening up an almost 40,000-strong gap over the Tories in terms of paid-up members.
The cheerful Clacton MP crowed: “Kemi, are you watching on the livestream?”
GB News now knows some of the ways Reform UK hopes to take the fight to Badenoch.
“It’s not going to be just one event,” a Reform UK insider said. “We will look to do plenty of action days for activists.”
Another source told the People’s Channel: “We’re getting people who have never joined a political party before and so many of them want to go out door-knocking and canvassing.”
Kemi Badenoch
PA
A senior Reform UK figure in Essex added: “I think Reformers will go where Nigel tells them.
“They will feel insulted by what Kemi said on Boxing Day and want to defend him and the party.”
“To run a rally in her seat,” another local figure claimed, “is the perfect way to get exposure.”
They added: “Many Reform supporters, I am sure, will be out in force.”
GB News also understands that Reform UK will look to field candidates across Essex and Uttlesford with an eye on any local authority reorganisation being pushed for by Sir Keir Starmer’s Government.
The move will likely keep pressure on Badenoch, with Reform UK hoping to eat into support from both the Tories and Uttlesford Independents.
However, a Tory source told GB News: “I think voters deserve better than being used as pawns in political mud-slinging.
“Especially now, there’s a lot of very important problems to tackle with freezing pensioners and the cost of living crisis.”
A recent MRP poll by Stonehaven put Reform UK up 115 seats compared to the 2024 General Election, likely returning 120 MPs if a nationwide poll was held today.
A staggering 93 gains come at the expense of sitting Labour MPs, with 20 additional pick-ups seeing Tories getting toppled.
Large swathes of Tory-voting Essex would fall away with the turquoise tidal wave if Stonehaven’s MRP poll was reflected at the ballot box, including true-blue Maldon and ex-Home Secretary James Cleverly’s Braintree seat.
Badenoch was returned as the MP for North West Essex with her majority slashed from 23,227 to just 2,610 over Labour’s baby-faced candidate Issy Waite.
Reform UK suffered a setback in the seat after it axed candidate Grant StClair-Armstrong for his former association with the British National Party.
StClair-Armstrong still cemented third place after receiving 14.1 per cent of the vote, having kept the Reform UK label on the ballot paper after being dropped after deadlines closed.
Separate MRP polls by More in Common and JL Partners appear to offer more conservative estimates, putting Reform UK’s returns at just over 70 MPs.
JL Partners gives Badenoch a 14-point advantage over Labour and an even larger 22 per cent lead over Reform UK.
Meanwhile, More in Common suggested Reform UK is now the closest challenger to Badenoch.
However, the survey still puts the populist party 22 per cent behind.
