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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Departure of Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf is latest in a long line of Farage fallings-out
Delivered without warning in a 54-word tweet, Zia Yusuf's announcement that he was standing down as Reform UK's chair has seemingly come out of the blue. For close watchers of Nigel Farage's party in recent times, however, the departure of the man largely credited with 'professionalising' its operation before last year's general election performance and last month's local election breakthrough is not a shock. A self-described 'British Muslim patriot', it had not been hard to find Islamophobic commentary about Yusuf among users of Reform UK Facebook groups. Others who left the party – or who have been ejected from it – were angered by his corporate approach, which they blamed for making it a cold house for grassroots veterans and mavericks. In his 11 months as Reform's chair, Yusuf brought with him the ethos and language that might be more associated with a vibrant tech start-up than a hard-right British political party. A businessman who made a fortune from selling his luxury concierge service, Velocity Black, in 2023 for a reported $300m, Yusuf exploded on to the political scene last June by donating a six-figure sum to Farage's party. The two men had known each other for years, having met at a party hosted by the former Ukip treasurer Stuart Wheeler. In his new role at Reform, Yusuf oversaw a restructuring of the party from branch level upwards, pledging to introduce bespoke technology and enforce the tightest vetting of any political party in Britain in a bid to root out cranks and extremists. At rallies, he was a regular speaker, initially wowing the grassroots and earning the discreet praise even of political rivals. He was often one of the few non-white people in the room and was the living embodiment of Farage's insistence that Reform was not a racist party. As recently as Monday, Farage sought to fend off allegations of racism and xenophobia being levelled at Reform, by pointing out at a press conference in Scotland that his party's chair was Scottish born and had 'parents who come from the Indian subcontinent'. But there had long been rumours that all was not well in Reform, not least after the falling-out that led to the departure of its Great Yarmouth MP, Rupert Lowe. Aside from the online abuse, Yusuf is said to have been increasingly at odds with other senior figures in the party. This week's controversy over comments in parliament by Reform's newest MP, Sarah Pochin, in which she called on the prime minister to ban the burqa, appears to have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Yusuf wrote on X that it was a 'dumb' question, given that was not party policy. For some time, Farage and Yusuf appeared to be joined at the hip, frequently appearing side by side, but the party leader did not come in behind his young chair on the Pochin issue. Yusuf's tweet on X announcing his departure was as blunt as it gets. Crediting himself with having 'quadrupled Reform's membership and delivered historic electoral results', he added: 'I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time.' The response from Farage – also delivered, as custom now dictates, on X – was, on the surface, laudatory, with the leader describing him as 'a huge factor in our success'. Yet, a paternalistic tone was obvious. 'Politics can be a highly pressured and difficult game and Zia has clearly had enough,' Farage said. Looking back at the longer sweep of the Reform UK leader's political career, the parting of ways is on brand. Farage's time in charge of various parties – from Ukip to the Brexit party – has been littered with fallings-out. There is, as many of his admirers and critics agree, room for only one trailblazer at the top of any Farage-led party. However, at a time when Reform is riding high in the polls, the departure of Yusuf comes with a serious question. Could this be the thread that unravels the seemingly unstoppable Reform juggernaut?
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
How popular is Reform UK at the moment - and who's voting for it?
A civil war has erupted in Reform UK. Zia Yusuf, its chairman, quit the party on Thursday, saying working to get it elected was no longer 'a good use of my time'. It followed a row in which he criticised a "dumb" question from new MP Sarah Pochin to Sir Keir Starmer in Parliament on Wednesday about a ban on burkas. Reform figures - including leader Nigel Farage - had backed Pochin. The infighting is an unwelcome setback for the party, which is riding high in polling among the public and achieved third place in Thursday's Scottish by-election, finishing within 1,500 votes of the winning Labour candidate. In the latest YouGov voting intention tracker, based on surveys from 1 and 2 June, Reform topped the polls on 28%. This compares to Labour on 22%, the Tories on 18% and Lib Dems on 16%. The tracker's more detailed results indicate Reform is most popular among over-50s with some 40% of Britons between 50 and 64 choosing the party in the latest survey. This compares to just 18% favouring Labour and the Tories. Meanwhile, 34% of over-65s are backing Farage's party, compared to 30% who are currently supporting the Tories. In terms of gender, Reform is also the most popular party among British males (31%) and females (25%). In England, it is also leading in the north (32%), Midlands (30%) and south (28%). In London, it is only the fourth most popular party (15%). The party's apparent increasing support translated into MPs during last year's general election, which saw it win five seats: Ashfield, Boston and Skegness, Clacton, Great Yarmouth (though its winning candidate Rupert Lowe is no longer a Reform MP) and South Basildon and East Thurrock. It came in second place in a further 98 constituencies. The party's electoral momentum continued at a local level last month. As well as winning the Runcorn and Helsby parliamentary by-election (which sent Sarah Pochin to the House of Commons), Reform won two mayoralties (Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire) and control of 10 councils. In the Scottish Parliament by-election for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse on Thursday, Reform came "from nowhere" to finish third - and within 1,500 of first. After not putting a candidate forward in 2021, Reform's Ross Lambie won 7,088 votes, compared to the SNP's 7,957 and Labour's 8,559. In 2021, Reform UK finished a lowly 13th, with just 58 votes. Deputy leader Richard Tice said: "We've come from nowhere to being in a three-way marginal, and we're within 750 votes of winning that by-election and just a few hundred votes of defeating the SNP, so it's an incredible result.' But if the popularity of Reform UK is gathering momentum, internally, the party has been hit by a series of high-profile internal problems. Formerly a Tory member, Yusuf came to prominence in June last year as a major Reform donor - giving £200,000 to the party - ahead of the general election A businessman who co-founded a luxury concierge service app called Velocity Black, which he reportedly sold for £233m in 2023, he was labelled a "star of the show" by Farage. And after Reform won its first Commons seats in the election, Yusuf was appointed chairman with a brief of "professionalising the party, building national infrastructure and continuing to grow membership". He was at the heart of another Reform "civil war" in March when the party stripped MP Rupert Lowe of the whip and reported him to the police, accusing him of making 'threats of physical violence' towards Yusuf. The Crown Prosecution Service said last month no criminal charges would be brought against Lowe, who then accused his ex-colleagues of a 'sinister' attempt to use the police to silence him. Yusuf also appeared to have an increasingly prominent role representing Reform in the media. After last month's local elections, it was him - not any of Reform's MPs - who spoke for the party on the BBC's flagship Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg politics programme. But just one month later, he was out following his clash with senior figures in the party. On Wednesday, Pochin asked Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions whether he would support a ban on burkas. A day later, Yusuf said on social media it had been 'dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do'. Shortly after that, he announced he was quitting as Reform's chairman, saying that working to get the party elected was no longer 'a good use of my time'. Party leader Farage said he had only 10 minutes' notice Yusuf was going to resign, adding he was 'genuinely sorry' he was departing. Reform has set out a number of policies in recent months. The party has said it would reinstate the winter fuel allowance and scrap the two-child benefit cap in what is a clear attempt to target Labour supporters angry at the party's welfare cuts. More controversially, Reform has vowed to make "big savings" by scrapping the UK's net zero, asylum hotel and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies. Farage has also said it would lift the income tax threshold to £20,000: something the Institute for Fiscal Studies questioned, saying it would cost up to £80bn. Starmer seized on this, saying Farage's "fantasy" economics would lead to a Liz Truss-style economic meltdown. Quite how this translates into how the public continues to view the party remains to be seen. But with the next general election still four years away, there are plenty more twists and turns to come for Farage & Co. The policies Reform UK and Nigel Farage have announced this year (Yahoo News UK) The tightrope Farage is walking on race – and why he can only lose (The Telegraph) Reform-led councils in 'paralysis' as dozens of meetings cancelled in first weeks (The Independent)
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Why Zia Yusuf's resignation matters for Reform UK
The resignation of Zia Yusuf as Reform UK's chairman matters because he was a central character in the stand out trend in British politics since the general election – the rise and rise Nigel Farage's party.I first met this thirty something Muslim son of Sri Lankan immigrants, a former Conservative, when he was unveiled by Reform almost exactly a year ago, as a donor who had just handed the party £200, is a self-made multi millionaire after setting up and then selling Velocity Black, a luxury concierge long after his donation to Reform, he was offered and accepted the job of party chairman. And he wouldn't just be someone behind the scenes, he would be a public figure how can we measure how important this moment is? I reckon there are three things worth examining as we assess Zia Yusuf's contribution to Reform money. Yusuf is a rich man, and giving away £200,000 is generous by any one's book. But Reform UK received £2.8m in donations last year, so the party isn't reliant on his Yusuf's heritage and ethnicity. To expand in popularity, let alone win a general election, Reform needs to widen its appeal. Having a minority-ethnic man in his thirties as one of its figureheads helped temper the criticism from rival parties that Reform, or at least some of its members or supporters, were thirdly, his organisational abilities. Yusuf is credited with building much of the infrastructure up to now that Reform is attempting to assemble at lightning speed, to turn them from an insurgency into general election winners in just a handful of years. And now he is gone. The party has soared during his tenure, but it is also true that the now former chairman put rather a lot of noses out of joint within Reform."Were his interpersonal skills at the top of his list of attributes? No," Nigel Farage told GB shown the door would joke that they had been "Goldman sacked" – a reference to Zia Yusuf's former employer, the investment bank Goldman tell me the grumbles about his approach to running the party ran well beyond the gripes you can find in any workplace about the Farage and the parties he has led – the UK Independence Party, the Brexit Party and Reform UK – have one heck of a track record of bust ups, fall outs, sackings and Carswell, Diane James, Patrick O'Flynn, Godfrey Bloom, Suzanne Evans, Ben Habib, Rupert Lowe, the list goes on and on. And now Zia big reason why this latest departure really matters is it is a stark reminder that a central ingredient in the rapid scaling up of Reform UK is going to be the hiring of staff who stick around long enough to help turn it into a potentially election winning party is attempting something utterly unprecedented and while the force of Nigel Farage's personality has and can take them a long way, bringing in a range and depth of expertise at least some of whom can last the course will be central Farage has never managed that right now, he has to find himself a new chairman.
