Nigel Farage has threatened to take Reform UK’s fight to Kemi Badenoch by making her constituency a “target” at the next General Election.
Speaking at the first of Reform’s regional conferences in 2025 in Leicester on Friday, Farage took a series of swipes at the Conservative leader – pouring fuel on the fire of a bitter Boxing Day dispute over his party’s membership.
Nigel Farage has threatened to take Reform UK’s fight to Kemi Badenoch
REFORM UK
In Leicester, Farage took a series of jabs at Badenoch’s “misspellings” and “ranting conspiracy theories” in her Boxing Day tirade.
But he cast aside rumours of taking her to court, saying: “It is all very well saying ‘sue her’ but she has not caused us any actual harm… She hasn’t harmed us, she’s given us tens of thousands more members!”
Farage also pointed to the fact Reform UK’s next regional conference – tomorrow – is set to sit inside Badenoch’s North West Essex constituency, and has promised a large-scale party event in her seat towards the end of January.
A photocall for hundreds of Reform UK members in Badenoch’s seat with Farage is now planned for January 31, he said.
LATEST AS REFORM TAKES ON THE TORIES:
Reform UK’s next regional conference is set to sit inside Badenoch’s North West Essex constituency
PA
Farage added: “You had your chance to apologise – well, now, the gloves are off.”
It’s not the only blow for the Tories at the Reform UK conference today – just hours before it began, former Conservative MP Marco Longhi announced his defection to Nigel Farage’s party.
Longhi, who served as the MP for Dudley North from 2019 to 2024, had warned “the party of Churchill and Thatcher has transformed into something unrecognisable” as he announced his move.
Longhi had warned ‘the party of Churchill and Thatcher has transformed into something unrecognisable’
REFORM UK
Speaking to crowds this evening, Longhi said “I had to put my country first, and that is why I am here tonight”.
Longhi also took aim at “wokery”, mass immigration, and migrant hotels as he vowed to continue to grow “the people’s army” and “march together toward a better future”.
And earlier, party chairman Zia Yusuf Reform Party Chairman Zia Yusuf took a sly swipe at Badenoch over the membership row between the populist party and the Tories.
The party chairman blasted Badenoch, who had claimed that she knew the ticker was “fake” because she could monitor the backend of the website, saying that “the only backend that Kemi had been monitoring is the one that she was talking out of”.
