Reform UK have been hit by further chaos after the man brought in by Nigel Farage to professionalise the party quit after a row with their newest MP.
Zia Yusuf, a Muslim businessman, had described new Runcorn MP Sarah Pochin as “dumb” after she challenged Keir Starmer over the legality of women wearing the burqa in the UK during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
After fury broke out about his comment, Mr Yusuf, who has been the target of anger by many activists over several months, announced he has quit.
He said: “11 months ago I became Chairman of Reform. I’ve worked full time as a volunteer to take the party from 14 to 30%, 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 timing could not be worse with Reform trying to make a breakthrough in Scotland in the Hamilton by-election for the Scottish Parliament.
The row with Ms Pochin has brought back memories of the fracture in Reform earlier this year when MP Rupert Lowe was ousted from the party following a row which began with Mr Yusuf in December.
Mr Lowe is still seeking damages for defamation against Mr Yusuf after he was accused of threatening the chairman.
Since Mr Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, was forced out of the party in March, a number of former member,s including ex-deputy leader Ben Habib and former London mayor candidate, Howard Cox, have demanded Mr Farage sack Mr Yusuf.
However, Reform still made massive gains in the May local elections and Mr Farage said that it was only able to happen thanks to Mr Yusuf’s professionalisation of the party.
Reacting to Mr Yusuf’s resignation, Mr Farage wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “I am genuinely sorry that Zia Yusuf has decided to stand down as Reform UK Chairman. As I said, just last week, he was a huge factor in our success on May 1st and is an enormously talented person. Politics can be a highly pressured and difficult game and Zia has clearly had enough. He is a loss to us and public life.”
The latest row came after Ms Pochin used her question in PMQs on Wednesday to say: “Given the prime minister’s desire to strengthen strategic alignment with our European neighbours, will he, in the interest of public safety, follow the lead of France, Belgium, Denmark and others and ban the burqa?”
Sir Keir welcomed Ms Pochin to the Commons, but said “I am not going to follow her down that line”.
Mr Yusuf on Thursday said it was “dumb for a party to ask the prime minister if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do”.
He said he “had no idea about the question nor that it wasn’t [Reform] policy”.
A Reform spokesman later clarified that banning burqas was not party policy, sparking calls from the far-right for Mr Farage to adopt the proposals.
But the row quickly escalated with sources suggesting that Mr Yusuf had been sidelined to the party’s DOGE-style project to find massive savings in the councils Reform controls and is no longer in charge of day-to-day party management.
Raheem Kassam, a key ally of Nigel Farage in the MAGA movement in Washington DC, said: “I said months ago something like this would happen because in such a new party with many competing personalities and priorities, being chairman or even leader is an almost thankless and gargantuan task. Pressure getting the better of Zia Yusuf should make people even more appreciative of Nigel Farage’s personal indefatigability.”
Meanwhile, two more long term allies of Mr Farage – Andy Wigmore and Arron Banks – known as “the Brexit bad boys” have emerged as early favourites to take over as chairman.
Opponents started to mock Reform almost immediately after the resignation.
A Labour MP said: “He [Yusuf] is a nasty man that should be no where near politics, but this is a clear sign that the Reform Party can’t even get a chair that thinks Reform is right for the country.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP said: “By sacking himself, Zia Yusuf seems to be leading the “UK DOGE” by example. You have to admire his commitment to the cause.
“It’s already clear Reform UK cannot deliver for the communities they are elected to stand up for. Instead, they have copied the Conservative playbook of fighting like rats in a sack.”
Georgie Laming, Director of Campaigns at HOPE not Hate said: “Just hours after a row over a proposed burqa ban, infighting has once again caused chaos within Nigel Farage’s political project.
“Zia Yusuf has declared that it’s not worthwhile trying to get Reform UK elected – if Farage’s own chairman thinks this, what confidence does this give voters?
“We know Farage has a long history of not tolerating any dissent. There is a vast list of people who have left his parties over the years and it looks like Zia Yusuf is one of them.”
