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BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Zia Yusuf: Reform UK burka row is 'storm in a teacup'
Former Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has called a row over a social media post - in which he said it was "dumb" for one of his MPs to call for a burka ban - a "storm in a teacup". Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Yusuf said he regretted the post and that "exhaustion led to a poor decision". Shortly after criticising MP Sarah Pochin, Yusuf quit as chairman saying that trying to get Reform UK elected was not "a good use of my time".However, two days later he returned to work for the party albeit in a different role, leading the party's Doge unit, a team inspired by the US Department of Government Efficiency, set up by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The initiative aims to cut wasteful spending in the councils Reform now why he had resigned as chairman, Yusuf said: "I've been working pretty much non-stop, virtually no days off."It is very difficult to keep going at that pace."He said one of the reasons he had "changed his decision so quickly" and returned to work for the party, was that he had been "inundated" by supportive messages from Reform voters and members. The series of events began last Wednesday when Pochin, the newly-elected MP for Runcorn and Helsby, asked Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer if he would join France and Denmark in banning the burka, a veil worn by some Muslim women that covers the face and body, "in the interests of public safety".The following day Yusuf, who is a Muslim, posted on X: "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 to the BBC on Monday, Yusuf said "the thing that frustrated me at the time" was that Pochin had not chosen to ask something that was party for his views on a ban, he said: "If I was an MP I would think about it very deeply, I think I probably would be in favour of banning face coverings in public writ large, not just the burka."I'm very queasy and uneasy about banning things that for example would be unconstitutional in the US but we have a particular situation in the UK."He said he did not believe Islam was "a threat to the country" but added that the UK had "a problem with assimilation". Over the weekend, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was also asked her views on banning the burka. She told the Telegraph: "People should be allowed to wear whatever they want, not what their husband is asking them to wear or what their community says that they should wear."However, she said that organisations should be able to decide what their staff wear and that she asked people coming to her constituency surgeries to remove face coverings "whether it's a burka or a balaclava". "I'm not talking to people who are not going to show me their face," she Muslim Council of Britain accused her of "desperation" adding: "Kemi Badenoch isn't setting the agenda - she's scrambling to keep up with Reform UK's divisive rhetoric."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Zia Yusuf quits as Reform UK chair after row over new MP's call for burqa ban
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. Farage expanded on the reasons for Yusuf's departure on GB News, saying he could tell even before the burqa row that the chair had had enough and was 'very disengaged'. He said he was sad and paid tribute to Yusuf's organisational skills, but also suggested he had weaknesses. Revealing that he had 10 minutes warning of the resignation, Farage said: 'When people have exceptional strengths in some areas of their life or other areas where perhaps they're not quite so strong. I think, in terms of dealing with staff there was a bit of a Goldman Sachs-type mentality. I mean, politics is different,' he said. 'And I think when you come from the background, he comes from, say, Goldman Sachs, where he worked, it is a really tough, brutal environment. Politics isn't like that. Politics isn't just about creating a financial bottom line, it's about doing things that are thoughtful, creative and different. 'So were his interpersonal skills at the top of his list of attributes? No. But I always found, with me, he was very polite, very objective in conversations that I had.' 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. Farage said he would 'rather eat razor blades' than let Lowe back in the party. 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, Banks 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.'
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Zia Yusuf REJOINS Reform Party 48 hours after resigning over burka ban stance
Former banker Zia Yusuf has rejoined the Reform Party just 48 hours after dramatically resigning as chairman. His shock departure on Thursday threatened to plunge the Nigel Farage-led party into fresh chaos and came just hours after he hit out at one of Reform's own MPs for a 'dumb' question in the House of Commons about banning the burka. The multi-millionaire businessman publicly questioned why Sarah Pochin, Reform's recently-elected MP for Runcorn and Helsby, had challenged the Prime Minister about the issue on Wednesday. There were also reports that Mr Yusuf had recently been 'sidelined' within Reform, including claims that some of his responsibilities had been passed elsewhere. This is breaking news, more follows.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Copy Reform and you'll get eaten, Kinnock tells Starmer
Lord Kinnock, the former Labour leader who now sits in the House of Lords, said the Prime Minister had been 'not well advised' on how to tackle the rise of Nigel Farage's party. He suggested that attempts to ape Reform's language were 'mortally stupid', and advised the party that 'achievement' in Government was the best way to counter the Reform threat. Lord Kinnock told Prospect Magazine: 'Appeasers get eaten. It's very important to remember that if people are offered two versions of a particular political brand, they will always choose the genuine one.' He added: 'If a progressive party is trying to use the vocabulary of isolationism or segregation or division, it's the same. It is silly to do that. It isn't evil, but it is very, very silly – maybe mortally stupid.' The former Labour leader's intervention is the latest development in growing tensions within the Labour Party about how to tackle the rising tide of Reform support. His remarks came after the Prime Minister announced measures to tackle immigration and a tightening of the system, warning that without such a move the UK risked becoming an 'island of strangers'. The speech followed Labour 's drubbing in the local elections last month, where Reform won hundreds of council seats and seized the parliamentary seat of Runcorn and Helsby. The comments were supported by some figures in Red Wall seats, which are under greater threat from the surge in Reform support, but denounced by many Left-wing Labour MPs. Lord Kinnock said: 'I think there are elements in and around the Labour party encouraging that as a way of responding to Reform, and they are fundamentally, 100 per cent, 22-carat wrong.' He added: 'I don't fear Reform, but I do think we ought to fight them rather harder and with more purpose.' The peer told the magazine: 'The playbook is familiar to anybody who studied the 1930s in Europe and or indeed in the United States of America. 'I'm not saying we are in any sense slipping towards some kind of fascist system… But those factors and the way in which they generate division and envy and isolationism – they're unhealthy features of any democracy.' On how to beat Reform, he said: 'Nothing replaces achievement in government, [concentrating on] what people regard to be the primary issues on the agenda, which is to say: health, decent jobs, affordable costs and wages that can meet those costs.' Lord Kinnock led the Labour Party before famously losing the 1992 election to Sir John Major despite the polls being in his favour, leading to another five years of Conservative rule. The pro-Europe politician said that decisions to use phrases such as 'island of strangers' and not to scrap the two-child benefit cap were based on post-Brexit preconceptions of the electorate. He said: 'Certainly there were elements among the advisory team who had an overreaction to the reason for, and the consequence of, the Brexit referendum vote. I think that overreaction has lasted through till now. 'I don't think that they are reactionary individuals. I don't think they're frightened individuals. I think they have overreacted to a misinterpretation of what happened in 2016.' The former leader went on to suggest that Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, should consider a wealth tax, citing as an example a two per cent levy on assets above £10 million. 'Property taxation in our country, asset taxation, is outdated,' he added, as he urged the party's senior figures to be bolder. 'There's a degree of steadiness from Keir which, on a good day, is very, very reassuring. However, that can translate into a paralytic caution. That means that this government, much as I love them – and they know I do – has got a kind of audacity deficit.' Lord Kinnock appeared at Sir Keir's victory speech on the morning of July 5, when the Prime Minister led the party to a landslide win.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Zia Yusuf didn't leave Reform because he was a victim of racism
Zia Yusuf was billed by some as one of the rising stars of British politics – so his abrupt resignation as chairman of Reform UK has created quite a splash. Wading in with his typical opportunistic identitarianism, former leader of the SNP, Humza Yousaf, said on X that Yusuf's departure from Reform should serve as an example to all 'people of colour' – that the 'hard-right' would never accept them, even if they make sizeable financial donations. He added that it was no surprise that the insurgent challenger party of the Right eventually dispensed with their 'brown, son-of-an-immigrant, Muslim' party chairman. While there have been reports of Yusuf being sidelined within Reform for some time, the straw that broke the camel's back appears to be a disagreement between him and the party's newest MP, Sarah Pochin. In PMQs, the recently elected MP for Runcorn and Helsby asked Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer whether he would entertain the possibility of introducing restrictions on the wearing of the burqa in the UK. Yusuf seemingly took issue with this by publicly rebuking Pochin on X. He said it was 'dumb' to argue for measures which were not official Reform policy. The writing was on the wall for Yusuf after the spat with Pochin. She is Reform's first female MP, and insulting her in public over a question in the Commons about banning the burqa – being a Muslim man – was political self-destruction and contradicted his own emphasis on 'professionalising' the party. The question itself was an entirely reasonable one. Morocco – a predominantly Muslim country where Sunni Islam is the state religion – banned the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of the burqa back in 2017. This was on the grounds of security considerations and part of a broader approach to combat Salafist influences in the North African country. If Yusuf was disappointed that certain procedures should have been followed by Pochin, this should have been discussed in private and he should have raised the importance of party discipline and order as chairman. This would have been responsible and professional chairmanship. While there is no doubt that Yusuf suffered a great amount of racist and anti-Muslim abuse from what the Reform leader has labelled 'alt-right' trolls, a more plausible explanation for Yusuf's resignation is that he found the transition from business to politics difficult – and understandably so. In the world of business, he is unquestionably successful: he co-founded a luxury concierge company which was later sold to Capital One in a £233 million deal. But chairing a fledgling political party requires a greater degree of patience – especially when it comes to instilling organisational discipline and order as part of a broader professionalisation strategy. Whether it was restlessness, disillusionment, or clashing with other personalities, Yusuf the businessman had clearly grown frustrated in his political role. And nobody can blame him for that. While the likes of Humza Yousaf would love nothing more than to portray Zia Yusuf as a non-white Muslim victim of ethno-nationalist persecution, the reality is far more complicated.
