Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has resigned hours after he described a question to the Prime Minister from his party’s new MP as ‘dumb’.
The Scottish-born businessman spent 11 months in the role, stepping up a week after the general election which saw leader Nigel Farage being elected to the House of Commons for the first time.
In that time, the party’s membership has soared and it has consistently landed at the top of voting preference polls.
But Yusuf sometimes appeared disconnected from his MPs on several issues, with the most prominent example coming earlier today.
At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Sarah Pochin – who was elected last month at the Runcorn & Helsby by-election – asked Keir Starmer if he would ban the the burqa.
It later emerged that the banning of the Islamic religious dress is not part of Reform’s party platform.
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Yusuf, who is Muslim, wrote in a post on X this morning: ‘I do think it’s dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do.’
In another post on X this afternoon, he said: ‘I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office.’
The 38-year-old was hired by Farage in an effort to professionalise Reform UK and turn it into a viable party of government.
That involved stepping up the system of vetting, after a series of embarrassing revelations about Reform candidates during the general election.
At last month’s local elections, the party won a series of significant victories, winning control of several councils where they previously had no representation at all.
It also won mayoral races in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire, while Pochin won the by-election in what was considered one of Labour’s safest seats.
Yusuf came under harsh criticism, though, from former MP Rupert Lowe who was suspended from Reform over alleged complaints about his behaviour shortly after he questioned Farage’s leadership.
And the leader has also condemned the ‘online abuse and frankly outright racism’ the chair faced on social media.
His resignation comes on the day Reform hopes to make its first major incursion into Scottish politics at a Holyrood by-election in South Lanarkshire.
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