Reform UK Membership Expected to Pass Tories

Reform UK's membership has been surging, with numbers published showing the party is now about 11,000 members short of surpassing the Tories.

The party, headed by Nigel Farage, has 120,549 members, according to its online membership tracker, reports The Telegraph on Monday. The last membership figure posted by the rival Conservative Party shows its membership at 131,680.

"Reform has all the momentum in British politics, as our membership numbers show," Farage said. "We are growing at an unprecedented rate and will soon surpass the failed Tories, who are being abandoned after 14 years of deception and failure."

Reform's membership has grown because of an influx of younger members, and a spokesman said the party expects to have more members than the Tories in January.

"History is being made as the century-long stranglehold the two old parties have had on Britain is finally broken," Reform UK Chairman Zia Yusuf said. "Nigel Farage will be the next prime minister, and will return Britain to greatness."

The latest figure for the Conservatives was released in November when Kemi Badenoch was elected as leader. Some of the Tories, however, have criticized her for not announcing policies on issues such as immigration, saying that has left Reform able to fill the void.

Farage said this past weekend that 1,000 young people joined the party in less than 48 hours. Reform is offering lower-priced memberships for people aged 25 and younger to attract them as voters.

Meanwhile, Reform Treasurer Nick Candy said billionaire Elon Musk is among a "number of billionaires" interested in donating to the party.

"The Reform Party is the disrupter," Candy said. "This is the seed round, the series A. This will be political disruption like we have never seen before."

The Labour Party has dropped to its lowest levels in a decade, losing 37,000 members in 2023, bringing the total membership to 370,450.

The numbers were a new low for the party's membership under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, compared to 532,000 members in 2019 when Jeremy Corbyn was the party's leader.

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