Kemi Badenoch must choose her battles – and decide how dirty she wants to get

Never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty. And what’s more, the pig likes it.

Looking the festive ding-dong that burst between Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farageyou wonder if the Tory leader should heed this famous quote – because there would only ever be one winner in this argument.

THE Reform United Kingdom The leader has spent nearly three decades dragging his political opponents into fights that ultimately benefit his cause. It’s no different.

What would have been a relatively low-key Christmas stunt was elevated to literal front-page news.

British reform insiders say this, in turn, attracts more people to the party and further increases its membership numbers.

Part of this is because editors have picked up on everything happening around politics during the quiet period between Christmas and New Year.

For what Badenoch and his team failed to time this and his restraint may confuse some members of his group.

An argument that the conservatives should have dismissed

Additionally, the Conservative leader is also currently on the back foot regarding her main accusation that the Reform membership number is fake.

Reform agreed to show Sky News his account details on NationBuilder – a platform that manages memberships and donations for many political parties.

The number of active account portal memberships matched the figure shown on the ticker – with the number of websites increasing in size shortly after NationBuilder’s tally increased.

Sky News also conducted its own analysis of the ticker and found nothing suspicious about it (read the full analysis here).

Kemi Badenoch said the Reform Party changed the coding when people started reporting the alleged discrepancy, but he has yet to provide evidence to support that claim.

Either way, it’s still an argument that conservatives probably should have dismissed.

All politicians must choose their battles

Certainly, registered members mean more revenue for a party, but that does not necessarily translate into broader electoral success. After all, Labor Party membership surged under Jeremy Corbynbut he still lost two elections.

But that doesn’t mean the two major parties shouldn’t look very closely at the Reform Party in their rearview mirror.

The party’s response to this row shows a far more professional behind-the-scenes operation than previous, more ramshackle incarnations of the Farage-led political machine.

Talk to the reform leader’s longtime allies, and even they seem somewhat surprised at how clever their plan has become.

They also highlight electoral milestones on the horizon where the party’s results at the polls can be objectively tracked – starting with local elections in May next year and running through to the Welsh Assembly vote in 2026.

There will be many more attempts by Nigel Farage to fight with his political opponents between now and then.

The task of Tory and Labor leaders is to pick their battles and judge how dirty they are prepared to get.