Zia Yusuf
quits as Reform UK chair after row over new MP’s call for burqa ban
Yusuf had
suggested it was ‘dumb’ for Sarah Pochin to call on prime minister to introduce
a ban
Rowena Mason
Whitehall editor
Thu 5 Jun
2025 19.42 BST
Zia Yusuf
has resigned as the chair of Reform UK after suggesting it was “dumb” of the
party’s newest MP to ask the prime minister if he would ban the burqa.
Yusuf, a
donor and businessman, said he was resigning after less than a year in the job
because he did not believe working to get a Reform government elected was a
good use of his time.
His
departure is a blow to Nigel Farage as he tries to professionalise his rapidly
growing party, with political rivals saying it shows the Reform leader cannot
work with other senior figures without falling out.
Yusuf, who
is Muslim, quit after a dispute about the party’s handling of its position on
the burqa. Sarah Pochin, the new Reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby, had pressed
Keir Starmer on the issue in parliament on Wednesday, and Farage had also said
on GB News that it was time for a debate about the burqa.
Hours before
resigning, Yusuf had posted on X saying it was “dumb” for a party to have asked
the prime minister to ban the burqa when it was not its own policy.
In a
statement on X, Yusuf said: “Eleven 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.”
Yusuf has
been working on Reform’s new Elon Musk-style “department of government
efficiency” (Doge) unit looking at cutting spending in councils where the party
is in control.
The tech
entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried, who was brought in this week with great fanfare
to lead the unit, will also be departing alongside Yusuf, leaving the party’s
plans to slash “waste” in local government in disarray.
The Reform
chair has been close to Farage over the last year and the party leader is
“upset” about Yusuf going, according to Tim Montgomerie, a Reform supporter and
commentator. Yusuf’s exit is likely to add to the impression that Farage
struggles to retain senior figures in his parties.
In a
statement in response, Farage said he was “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 1 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,” he
said.
But Daisy
Cooper, the Liberal Democrats deputy leader, 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.”
A Labour
party spokesperson added: “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 turmoil
in Reform comes on a crucial day for the party in Scotland where it is hoping
to make headway against the Scottish National party and Labour in the Hamilton
Scottish parliament byelection.
Only on
Monday, Farage had held up Yusuf as an example of why Reform should not be
accused of racism, as he spoke at a press conference in Aberdeen.
“I would
remind everybody that the chairman of the party is Scottish-born, but comes
from parents who come from the Indian subcontinent. But we don’t talk about
race at all. We think everybody should be treated equally. We object very
strongly to the segmentation of people into different types.”
Some of
Reform’s membership had already turned against Yusuf over his role in the
departure of one of the party’s most rightwing MPs, Rupert Lowe. Yusuf clashed
with Lowe earlier this year. This led to Lowe’s suspension amid allegations of
threats towards Yusuf, which were reported to the police. A decision was later
taken not to charge the MP.
Yusuf is
widely credited within Reform for having professionalised the party, hiring new
people, setting up more branches and making it run in a more corporate way.
However, he
also rubbed some of the Reform old guard up the wrong way with his management
style.
Arron Banks,
the Brexit donor and Reform mayoral candidate, was on Thursday night tipped as
a potential successor as chair. In spite of Farage’s warm tribute to Yusuf, he
posted on social media: “Astonishing that everyone thinks they are responsible
for the meteoric Reform rise, as the old saying goes, success has many fathers
and failure (is) an orphan. Zia worked very hard but struggled with
relationships and people. The corks will be popping in party HQ this evening.
Reform will power on …”
Yusuf’s
decision to go does not appear to have been long planned. He had been giving
interviews over the last week about Reform’s plans to slash the state by
£300bn, and to raise the birthrate by encouraging “fertile” British women to
have more children.
Earlier on
Thursday, Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, confirmed that Reform was
prepared to cut government spending to about 35% of national income – amounting
to almost £300bn. He told the Politics Inside Out podcast that it had been a
“great lie” told to the public that more money equalled better public services,
and it should be possible to return spending ratios to mid-1990s levels. “At
35% of GDP, things were working more,” he said.
Yusuf had
also said over the weekend that it should be possible to slash the state by
£300bn to £400bn.
Dan
Tomlinson, Labour’s mission champion for economic growth, said: “Reform’s
fantasy economics would lead to a financial crisis whilst devastating public
services. First they announced unfunded spending plans that would crash the
economy like Liz Truss did, now they pledge to bulldoze through the public
services people rely on every day.
“The NHS,
our defences, police on the street, and the criminal justice system – all would
be under threat with Reform.”
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