The Nigel Farage-led Reform UK party recently announced that its membership has surpassed that of the Conservative Party. According to the counter on the Reform UK website, the party had over 133,000 members as of Thursday afternoon.
By comparison, 131,680 Tory members were eligible to vote in this year’s Conservative Party leadership election, which saw Kemi Badenoch become party leader in November.
Nigel Farage called the event a “big historic moment,” saying in an email that “Reform UK is now the real opposition.” However, it was not possible to independently confirm Reform UK’s membership figures or the most recent Conservative Party membership figures.
The Reform UK party has been gaining momentum throughout the year. It won 14.3% of the national vote in this year’s general election, in which the Conservatives lost to the Labour Party, ending its 14-year reign. The party’s growth has been further fuelled by an uncertain start to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration and support from prominent figures including Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X.
Farage, who bookmakers currently consider to be the favourite to become prime minister after Starmer, met Musk earlier this month at US President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss a possible political donation. If Musk, the world’s richest man, funds the party, it could potentially disrupt the long-standing bipartisan dominance of British politics.
