Nigel Farage said Zia Yusuf was a “loss” to Reform UK and public life after he quit as the party’s chairman. Mr Yusuf announced that he was resigning after a row erupted over Reform MP Sarah Pochin calling for a burka ban during PMQs.
The Reform UK leader said in a post on X: “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.”
Mr Yusuf said he had decided that working to get the insurgent party elected was no longer “a good use of my time”.
He wrote on X: “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.”
Mr Yusuf earlier branded Ms Pochin’s burka question “dumb” as banning the face covering is not official Reform policy.
He 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.”
Speaking during PMQs, Ms Pochin said: “Given the Prime Minister’s desire to strengthen strategic alignment with our European neighbours, will he in the interests of public safety follow the lead of France, Denmark, Belgium and others and ban the burka?”
