Nigel Farage has urged Kemi Badenoch to apologise or face “action” after she accused Reform UK of “fakery” over its membership numbers. The Reform UK leader will spend the weekend weighing up what action to take if the Conservative leader ignores his calls for an apology over the “crazy conspiracy theory”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has accused Nigel Farage of “fakery” over Reform UK membership numbers, after his party claimed they had surpassed the Tories in signed-up members.

Reform UK and Nigel Farage have been involved in a series of furious exchanges online with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.