Nigel Farage has taken aim at Kemi Badenoch’s shadow cabinet appointments and declared that “Remainers are back in town”.
His comments came after the newly-elected Tory leader appointed a handful of frontbench roles this afternoon, including Robert Jenrick to Justice and Mel Stride as Shadow Chancellor.
Mr Farage attacked Ms Badenoch as “the continuity candidate”, and claimed Reform UK has seen a membership surge since she was elected on Saturday.
The Reform UK leader told LBC in Florida that there will be “no change whatsoever” to the Tories after she replaced Rishi Sunak.
Following her appointment of former Remain voters to the shadow cabinet, including Mr Jenrick, Mr Stride and Laura Trott, he warned: “The Remainers are back in town”.
He also warned that Ms Badenoch will be incapable of holding the Tory’s warring factions together over the next five years, accusing her of wishing for a “miracle”.
He earned: “There are two parties within the Conservative Party, you’ve got the reform-minded people and the Liberal Democrat minded people and they are so far apart, it’s not true.”
Mr Farage also revealed that Reform UK’s membership has increased by 1,500 individuals since Ms Badenoch won, with many Robert Jenrick supporters departing after their candidate was defeated.
Asked what the effect of her win will be, Mr Farage said he’s “seeing it already” with a boost in Reform’s support.
He said: “We’ve gone through 95,000 this morning – up 1,500 in the last 3 or 4 days.”
“These are Conservatives who were hanging on to see if the party could change direction. For us as a party it’s very good news.”
Reform chairman Zia Yusuf also hailed the spike in Reform membership, calling it the “best weekend for new member signups since our party conference in September”.
“Kemi Badenoch’s election is further evidence the Tories haven’t and won’t change. More and more people are waking up to Reform being the only option to save our great country.
“Kemi was elected with the lowest turnout of Tory members on record in a leadership election.
“Reform has all the momentum in British politics, as we close in on 100,000 members.”
Ms Badenoch also appointed Priti Patel as Shadow Foreign Secretary, who voted leave alongside Ms Badenoch herself.
