Zia Yusuf has tonight resigned as chairman of Reform UK. In a statement, he posted on X that ‘I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office.’ He has worked for Reform for 11 months, during which time, he noted: ‘I have worked full time as a volunteer to take the party from 14 to 30 per cent, quadrupled its membership and delivered historic electoral results.’
It comes on the same day that the businessman appeared to call his party’s newest MP, Sarah Pochin, ‘dumb’ for calling on Keir Starmer to ban the burqa – despite it not being official Reform party policy. Farage’s statement reacting to Yusuf’s resignation is more one of sorrow, than of anger. The Clacton MP wrote on X that he was ‘genuinely sorry’ that Yusuf has quit: ‘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.’
It is an extraordinary turnaround for the now ex-party chairman. Just last month, he was enjoying a victory lap after Reform stormed to victory in the local elections with 30 per cent of the vote. Now he is out: the latest, critics will say, in a long line of personalities to fall out with Nigel Farage. Such a characterisation is not entirely fair – Farage’s post on X makes it clear that there is regret at Yusuf’s departure. But it is striking how even Tory MPs regarded the ex-chairman as an asset, who had helped build a formidable election-winning machine.
In an interview tonight with Martin Daubney on GB News, Farage sought to play down any personal acrimony. He mentioned the racist online abuse which Yusuf has suffered online and suggested that businessmen can find politics difficult. His tone was very much one of sadness, not bitterness – though he did admit that ‘not everyone liked him’. He insisted, though, that ‘We worked together for 11 months, I have great respect for him.’
As party chairman, Yusuf inevitably had to deal with both intense media scrutiny and a collection of eclectic colleagues. He had a much publicised falling out with Rupert Lowe, with Reform even going so far as to refer their ex-MP to the police. Some of his former colleagues regarded him highly; others were much more critical. His focus on ‘professionalising’ Reform brought with it enemies. ‘Thank goodness’, was the reaction of one former Reform colleague. ‘A long time coming’ was the response of another. Yusuf’s departure follows a report by Christian Calgie of the Express, who suggested that Yusuf had been sidelined by the recent promotion of longtime Farage aide Aaron Lobo, a core member of the Reform leader’s inner circle. Within 90 minutes of the story being published, Yusuf quit.
The tone of his post suggests a man who was done with investing 16 hours a day in the often unrewarding world that is politics. At his press conference last week, Farage praised Yusuf fulsomely. His departure will not derail the Farage project – but Yusuf’s work in building Reform’s machine was considerable.
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