Zia Yusuf Resigns As Reform UK Chairman
Zia Yusuf has been Chairman of Reform UK for 11 months (Alamy)
3 min read
Zia Yusuf has resigned as chairman of Reform UK after almost a year in the role.
Yusuf on Thursday posted on social media that he no longer believed working to get a Reform government elected was a "good use" of his time.
He made the announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying: "11 months ago I became chairman of Reform. I’ve worked full time as a volunteer to take the party from 14 to 30 per cent, quadrupled its membership and delivered historic electoral results.
"I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office."
The move comes after Yusuf said that newly-elected Reform MP Sarah Pochin's call for the Prime Minister to ban the burka was "dumb".
During her Prime Minister's Questions debut on Wednesday, the new MP for Runcorn and Helsby asked Keir Starmer to follow the example of several European countries and ban the burka "in the interests of public safety".
Posting on X and responding to a comment made by commentator Katie Hopkins on the issue, Yusuf said: "Nothing to do with me. Had no idea about the question nor that it wasn’t policy. Busy with other stuff.
"I do think it’s dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do."
Appearing on GB News after the news broke, Farage revealed that he had only a “10-minute warning” that the resignation was coming – though said he had already suspected on Wednesday morning that Yusuf was dissatisfied in his post.
The Reform leader thanked Yusuf for his work in the party, noting that he and the former chair had been “inseparable” for the last 11 months. But asked whether Yusuf was parting on good terms, Farage replied: “I don’t think it’s amicable from his perspective.”
The leader described Yusuf as “brilliant” on “data and the technical side of things” but said he was weak on personal skills. “In terms of dealing with staff, there was a Goldman Sachs-type mentality,” Farage said.
Farage added that he thought Yusuf had put out an “intemperate” tweet about Pochin’s Commons question to the Prime Minister because he was already unhappy in his post.
“He’s had enough,” Farage said of his former colleague. “It is totally unrelenting,” he added, blaming Elon Musk’s X as it is “full of vile trolls especially the alt-right types”. He said “Indian bots” had targeted Yusuf with abuse on the platform.
Farage also said there was no way back into Reform UK for Rupert Lowe or Ben Habib, and he would “rather eat razor blades” than welcome Lowe back in. He explained that it is “impossible” to work with people who “go public the whole time” when there are internal disagreements.
Reacting to Yusuf's resignation, a Labour Party spokesperson said: “If Nigel Farage can’t manage a handful of politicians, how on earth could he run a country? He has fallen out with everyone he has ever worked with. Reform are just not serious.
“The Reform chair has done a runner so that he doesn’t have to front up Farage’s £80bn in unfunded cuts, which would spark a Liz Truss-style economic meltdown."
