Giorgia on their minds: Farage and Badenoch scrap to be mates with Meloni

Tories accuse Reform of ‘peddling conspiracy theories’ as row erupts in wake of Conservative leader’s trip to Rome

N igel Farage and Kemi Badenoch have spent years trading barbs and fighting for the rightwing vote. But now the party leaders find themselves in a much more bizarre struggle – for the affections of the rightwing Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni .

The row began on Monday when the Times published an article claiming that during a meeting in Rome, Meloni had advised the Conservative leader against doing a deal with Farage to unite the right. After complaints from Reform – and, reportedly, Meloni’s team – the article was amended to remove that claim.

Now, sources close to Farage have told the Guardian that Meloni and the Reform UK leader had a conversation this week in which she apologised for any confusion. They said she had congratulated him for his win in the Clacton byelection this month, in which his main opponent was a man dressed as a bin .

A Reform source added: “Meloni’s people have also relayed that they are deeply unhappy and disappointed about what happened.”

The Italian prime minister’s team said that she “did not enter and does not want to enter into domestic political dynamics and relations between British parties”.

On Monday, after a trip to Rome, Badenoch triumphantly posted a selfie with Meloni on social media, along with a gushing caption which praised the European politician’s “straight-talking, no-nonsense” attitude.

But the subsequent furore over Badenoch’s comments seems to have killed her buzz. A source close to the Tory leader told the Guardian: “It is very frustrating that Reform is picking up on crossed wires and desperately trying to make it a thing, whipping this whole episode up into something it is not.”

Shortly after Badenoch’s cheerful post, the former Tory frontbencher Robert Jenrick, now a Reform MP, crowed at a press conference : “It was obviously very, very embarrassing for Kemi Badenoch. My advice, if you go and visit a foreign leader, is don’t make up a pack of lies about what they say.”

Farage weighed in, adding: “I don’t see a single quote from Giorgia Meloni herself. I see what Kemi Badenoch tells us Giorgia Meloni said.”

A Tory spokesperson insisted the party had not made any false claims. “Reform are just making things up and peddling conspiracy theories to distract from their fishy £5m donation scandal,” they said.

Meloni, a populist Italian firebrand who is firmly anti-migration and champions social conservatism, including opposition to same-sex marriage, swept to power in Italy in 2022. She has since somewhat moderated her approach and has become influential among world leaders, topping power lists in Forbes, Time magazine and Politico. Many on the right are keen to win her affections.

Raheem Kassam, a former adviser to Nigel Farage who owns the US politics website the National Pulse, said Meloni had fostered a good relationship with Farage since 2016.

“I have known Giorgia for a long time and in no world would she have done something like that. It’s not her style,” he said. “She has a great personality. Her own personal strength and conviction is admirable.”