Nigel Farage warned he will not back down in the row with Kemi Badenoch over Reform’s membership.

A spat erupted when the Conservative leader accused the arch-Brexiteer of “fakery” after his upstart party claimed it had overtaken the number of Tory members.

In an update yesterday [FRI], the Reform leader vowed to set out his next steps in the coming days.

The Clacton MP told GB News: “I will let you know in the next couple of days, but I will not let this rest.

“It’s absolutely disgusting that she should accuse us of defrauding the British public, it is quite wrong in every way.”

Pressed on if he was hinting at legal action, Mr Farage added: “I haven’t implied anything.

“I’ve just said I will let you know my course of action in the next couple of days and I will prove that these members are not fake.”

He later announced on X that Reform, which has five MPs, had now hit 140,000 members paying the £25 fee to join.

The extraordinary row comes after a digital counter on the Reform website showed a membership tally on Boxing Day ticking past the 131,680 figure declared by the Conservative Party during its leadership election earlier this year.

Mr Farage called it a “historic moment,” adding: “The youngest political party in British politics has just overtaken the oldest political party in the world. Reform UK is now the real opposition.”

But Ms Badenoch accused Reform’s live ticker of being “fake” and said Mr Farage “doesn’t understand the digital age”.

She added: “How do I know for certain the Reform announcement is not true? Because the Conservative Party has gained thousands of new members since the leadership election.

“But we don’t shout about it…we are building quietly and steadily on principles and values, not gimmicks.

“The road ahead is long and difficult. But our first mission is to win the trust of the British People – you don’t do that by manipulating them at Christmas.”

In response, Mr Farage challenged Ms Badenoch to have the Reform and Tory membership figures checked by a Big Four accounting firm.

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The Clacton MP said: “Kemi says I don’t understand the digital age. I have 5.4 million followers, and she has 320k.

“We understand you are bitter, upset and angry that we are now the second biggest party in British politics and that the Conservative brand is dying under your leadership.

“However, this is not an excuse to accuse us of committing fraud. We will gladly invite one of the Big Four firms in to audit our membership numbers as long as you do the same.

“We have heard from many whistleblowers that will swear under affidavits that ballots were sent out to long-expired or resigned ex-members.

“It’s an open secret at CCHQ that your membership numbers are fake.”