Nigel Farage has urged Kemi Badenoch to apologise or face “action” after she accused Reform UK of “fakery” over its membership numbers. The Reform UK leader will spend the weekend weighing up what action to take if the Conservative leader ignores his calls for an apology over the “crazy conspiracy theory”.

Kemi Badenoch loves a metaphor. We know this because she told us so in a major pre-Christmas interview with the BBC. She likened her mission as the new leader of the Tory party to that of seeking to open a restaurant.

A furious war of words has broken out between Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch after Reform UK claimed its membership had surpassed the Tories.