Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf has issued an apology after being caught liking a post from an Enoch Powell fan account, criticising Robert Jenrick for having a Jewish wife. The former party chairman’s social media activity was highlighted when the account @Enoch_Is_Right shared a screen recording of Mr Yusuf’s like.
The highly offensive post read: “Reminder that Jenrick is a traitorous Zogbot with a Jewish wife and family. I’m sure it’s unrelated that he imported infinite brown savages to rape our women and children.” Zogbot is a derogatory word for Zionist.
The video showing Mr Yusuf’s like began circulating on social media earlier this afternoon, sparking outrage and demands for Reform to suspend the former chairman now leading it’s DOGE programme rooting out waste in local councils.
Sources close to Mr Jenrick had also been watching Mr Yusuf’s language towards the top Tory ramp up in recent days following the Afghanistan data breach revelations.
In one post yesterday, Mr Yusuf branded Tories like Mr Jenrick and Suella Braverman “traitors” for adhering to the super-injunction and not revealing the breach or the secret Afghan asylum flights to voters using parliamentary privilege.
Following inquiries by the Express, Mr Yusuf posted a statement to X apologising for liking the post.
He said: “One of the team who post to my X account accidentally pressed like on an awful antisemitic tweet earlier today. I apologise for this.”
He added: “The post also refers to “brown savages”, and is equally racist against me. Clearly it was not intentional.
“The amount of antisemitism and racism on this platform is spiralling out of control, and I hope that changes soon.”
Robert Jenrick was approached for comment.
Mr Jenrick and Mr Yusuf have frequently come to blows on social media, last month entering into a furious back-and-forth war of words about immigration.
Responding to a video from Mr Jenrick talking about the effect of immigration on unaffordable rents for young people, Mr Yusuf asked: “Does anyone remember who was in the government that inflicted this catastrophe on us?
Concluding his reply with an emoji of a clown, he asked: “Come to think of it, who was Secretary of State for Housing?”
Mr Yusuf’s question was quickly answered by Mr Jenrick, who fanned the flames of the row by promoting his record at the Ministry of Housing.
He boasted: “I got housing starts to their highest level since 1987. I fought tooth and nail to cut migration and secured the biggest ever reduction.
“Did the last government do enough? No. That’s why I resigned. But enough about me. Why do your own colleagues call you Zia Useless?”