Reform UK claimed a major milestone over Christmas, announcing that its membership had surpassed that of the Conservatives — and the number continues to grow.

The party announced it had reached this milestone on Boxing Day when a digital counter on the Reform website showed membership surpassing the 131,680 figure reported by the Conservative Party during its leadership election.

It was the Conservatives’ lowest membership ever and a significant decline from the roughly 172,000 members it had during its 2022 leadership race.

Reform UK shared a film of a message that seemed to have been projected onto the Conservative party headquarters in the middle of the night, which claimed Nigel Farage‘s party was the “real opposition” to Labour, as a stunt to commemorate the occasion.

The post soon sparked a response from the Conservates’ leader Kemi Badenoch, who alleged the ticker was fake – which left Mr Farage threatening to take legal action.

It seems the row may be working in Reform’s favour as The Times has now reported Ms Badenoch is “driving 6,000 people a day” to join the rival party.

So just how many members does Reform have? And how many have joined in the past few days?

How many members does Reform UK have?

According to Reform UK’s live membership tracker, there are almost 153,000 members at the time of writing.

According to The Guardian, approximately 2.8 million people were registered with the Conservative Party and one million to the Labour Party in the 1950s.

Earlier this year, Labour had more than 366,000 members, while the Conservatives have fluctuated between 130,000 to 170,000 members over the past few years.

Mr Farage’s previous party, Ukip, had roughly 46,000 members at its height in 2015, indicating that Reform UK is gaining more traction.

In addition to his position as leader of Reform UK, Mr Farage has been promoting his ability to support Peter Mandelson, the UK’s new ambassador to the US, in his interactions with Donald Trump, the president-elect, who is both a personal and political friend.

Mr Farage told the Daily Telegraph: “I am no fan of any of the people in the Labour Party but, if it is in the national interest, I have always thought I could be a useful asset if they want to use that. But, if they don’t, more fool them.”

Lord Mandelson has hinted that he would be amenable to Mr Farage’s assistance in fostering relations with the Trump administration.

How many people have joined Reform since Boxing Day?

Reform UK hit 131,680 members on Boxing Day and has gained a further 21,766 since – which works out to just over 5,000 people a day.

What have the Conservatives said?

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has accused Mr Farage of “fakery” and that Reform UK is using a clock emoji and having it “coded to tick up automatically”.

“Farage doesn’t understand the digital age,” Badenoch added.

“This kind of fakery gets found out pretty quickly, although not before many are fooled.”

Mr Farage then accused Ms Badenoch of being “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”.

He added: “However, this 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 whistle-blowers 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.”

According to opinion polls, Mr Farage has become one of the most popular politicians in the nation since he was elected as an MP after numerous attempts, and reform has been gaining popularity since the general election.

He routinely receives high marks from those who have a positive opinion of him but also ranks highly from those who have a negative one.

A spokesperson for the Conservative Party said: “Reform has delivered a Labour government that has cruelly cut winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, put the future of family farming and food security at risk, and launched a devastating raid on jobs, which will leave working people paying the price.

“A vote for Reform this coming May is a vote for a Labour council. Only the Conservatives can stop this.”