Latest news with #ZiaYusuf
The Independent
19 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Zia Yusuf faces calls to be sacked from Reform UK in social media row
Nigel Farage 's aide, Zia Yusuf, is facing calls to be sacked after his X (formerly Twitter) account "liked" an antisemitic post targeting Tory MP Robert Jenrick and his Jewish wife. The offensive post referred to Jenrick as a "traitorous Zogbot" and contained racist remarks about "brown savages." Yusuf apologised, stating that a team member "accidentally pressed like" on the tweet and that the post also used racist language towards him. Robert Jenrick dismissed Yusuf's explanation as "bull****," pointing out that X likes are private and urging Reform UK to dismiss him. Zia Yusuf, who previously served as Reform UK's chair and now heads its ' Doge unit', has a history of controversial incidents within the party.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Reform UK's Zia Yusuf blames team for ‘like' on anti-semitic post
Nigel Farage is facing calls to sack his right-hand man Zia Yusuf after the senior Reform UK figure said that a member of his team 'accidentally pressed like' on an antisemitic post which attacked the wife of Tory MP Robert Jenrick. The former Reform chair, who now heads the party's Doge unit, has apologised for the incident, which comes after an anonymous X user posted a video that appeared to show Mr Yusuf liking a tweet which said: '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 term for a Zionist. The anonymous account that shared the screen recording of Mr Yusuf's interaction with the post described it as 'absolutely horrifying antisemitism '. Since last summer, likes on X have been privatised, so that only the liker and the poster can see them, rather than a wider audience. In response, Mr Jenrick said he 'called bull****' and pointed out that Mr Yusuf had been calling him a 'traitor' for the previous 48 hours over the Afghan data breach in what had become an ugly spat. The shadow justice minister claimed 'the mask has slipped' and urged Reform to sever ties with Mr Yusuf. Mr Yusuf responded with an apology after critics of the former Reform UK chair picked up the criticism to demand that he be sacked by Mr Farage. In his statement, 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.' But responding, Mr Jenrick claimed he did not believe Mr Yusuf's explanation. In a post directed at Mr Yusuf, he said: 'I call bull****. You've spent the last 48 hours calling me a 'traitor' for not drawing attention to a leaked spreadsheet with our special forces and MI6 officers' names on. 'But we're meant to believe this tweet attacking me as a traitor for having a Jewish wife and family was liked 'accidentally' by 'one of the team.' You must think we're all thick. 'No. The mask has slipped. Likes are private. You thought nobody would ever know. Unfortunately for you, the racist account who posted the tweet and could see the likes exposed you. Reform should give you the boot.' Mr Yusuf has been a controversial figure in Reform after he helped fund its general election campaign before being brought in as chair to modernise the party. He was blamed by supporters of Rupert Lowe for the Great Yarmouth MP being ousted from Reform but had the full backing of Mr Farage. Mr Yusuf then temporarily resigned from the party after having a spat with Reform's recently elected Runcorn MP Sarah Pochin, after she asked a question in PMQs calling for the burqa to be banned. He returned 24 hours later but was replaced as chair by long-term Farage ally Dr David Bull and instead agreed to head its Doge unit, modelled on the one Elon Musk created for Donald Trump, which aims to find savings and cut costs in councils Reform won control of in May.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Tory fury as ex-Reform chairman says he liked anti-Semitic post about Robert Jenrick 'by accident'
Kemi Badenoch has accused former Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf of intentionally liking an anti-Semitic online post about one of her party members. The extraordinary accusation came yesterday after Mr Yusuf's X account 'liked' a post attacking Robert Jenrick and his Jewish wife and children. After the like emerged, Mr Yusuf issued an apology and said a member of his team had done it 'accidentally'. But shortly after sharing the apology, Tory justice spokesman Mr Jenrick accused the Reform UK politician of 'bull****' and demanded he be sacked from Nigel Farage 's party. In a statement on X, Mr Jenrick said: 'You've spent the last 48 hours calling me a 'traitor' for not drawing attention to a leaked spreadsheet with our special forces and MI6 officers' names on. But we're meant to believe this tweet attacking me as a traitor for having a Jewish wife and family was liked 'accidentally' by 'one of the team'.' He added: 'You must think we're all thick. No. The mask has slipped. Likes are private. 'You thought nobody would ever know. Unfortunately for you, the racist account who posted the tweet could see the likes exposed you. Reform should give you the boot.' In response, Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch then wrote: 'Well said, Rob. Well said indeed.' The offending statement – posted by an account called British Racial Chauvinism with the username Enoch-Is-Right – made discriminatory statements against Jewish people and those from other minority backgrounds. It stated: 'Reminder that Jenrick is a traitorous Zogbot with a Jewish wife and family.' Then, using unfounded racist stereotypes and offensive language, the tweet claimed that Mr Jenrick had 'imported' people from a particular background to 'rape our women and children'. A video showing that Mr Yusuf's account had liked the post began circulating on social media, prompting demands for Reform to suspend him and launch an investigation into his conduct. In his apology, Mr Yusuf wrote: 'One of the team who posts to my X account accidentally pressed like on an awful anti-Semitic tweet today. I apologise for this'. He went on to explain language in the post was 'equally racist against me', proving that liking the post was 'not intentional'. He added: 'The amount of anti-Semitism and racism on this platform is spiralling out of control. I hope that changes soon.' Mr Yusuf resigned as chairman of Reform UK last month after almost a year in the role. His resignation came shortly after he tweeted that Reform MP Sarah Pochin had asked a 'dumb' question after she challenged Keir Starmer to ban the burka at Prime Minister's Questions. In his resignation message, he said working for Reform UK was not 'a good use of my time'. Some 48 hours later, Mr Yusuf returned to the party to head its Doge team – inspired by Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency in the US. Shortly afterwards, party leader Mr Farage admitted that Mr Yusuf, who is Muslim, had been subject to 'racial abuse' on X. Also unconvinced by the apology and explanation, Tory MP Jack Rankin wrote on X yesterday: 'When people tell you who they are, believe them. Zia Yusuf's mask has slipped and [he] must be sacked.' A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: 'This was a very concerning social media post and it is right that Zia Yusuf has distanced himself from it. We hope his office will be reviewing how this happened and ensuring it will not happen again. 'We will be keeping a close eye on this going forward.' Conservative sources have noted that Mr Yusuf's language towards Mr Jenrick has become increasingly aggressive in recent days, having been ramped up in light of the Afghanistan data breach revelations. In one of his posts on X, Mr Yusuf accused Mr Jenrick of lying, stating: 'You're a traitor to your country.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Jenrick urges Farage to sack right-hand man Zia Yusuf over antisemitic post row
Nigel Farage is facing calls to sack his right-hand man Zia Yusuf after the senior Reform UK figure said that a member of his team "accidentally pressed like" on an antisemitic post which attacked the wife of Tory MP Robert Jenrick. The former Reform chairman, who now heads the party's Doge unit, has apologised for the incident, which comes after an anonymous X user posted a video that appeared to show Mr Yusuf liking a tweet which said: '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 term for a Zionist. The anonymous account that shared the screen recording of Mr Yusuf's interaction with the post described it as 'absolutely horrifying antisemitism.' Since last summer, likes on X have been privatised, so that only the liker and the poster can see them, rather than a wider audience. In response, Mr Jenrick said he 'called bull****' and pointed out that Mr Yusuf had been calling him a 'traitor' for the previous 48 hours over the Afghan data breach in what had become an ugly spat. The shadow justice minister claimed 'the mask has slipped' and urged Reform to sever ties with Mr Yusuf. After critics of the former Reform UK chairman picked up the criticism to demand he is sacked by Mr Farage, he responded with an apology. In his statement 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.' But responding, Mr Jenrick claimed he did not believe Mr Yusuf's explanation. In a post directed at Mr Yusuf he said: 'I call bull****. You've spent the last 48 hours calling me a 'traitor' for not drawing attention to a leaked spreadsheet with our special forces and MI6 officers' names on. 'But we're meant to believe this tweet attacking me as a traitor for having a Jewish wife and family was liked 'accidentally' by 'one of the team.' You must think we're all thick. 'No. The mask has slipped. Likes are private. You thought nobody would ever know. Unfortunately for you, the racist account who posted the tweet and could see the likes exposed you. Reform should give you the boot.' Mr Yusuf has been a controversial figure in Reform after he helped fund their general election campaign before being brought in as chairman to modernise the party. He was blamed by supporters of Rupert Lowe for the Great Yarmouth MP being ousted from Reform but had the full backing of Mr Farage. Mr Yusuf then temporarily resigned from the party after having a spat with Reform's recently elected Runcorn MP Sarah Pochin after she asked a question in PMQs calling for the burqa to be banned. He returned 24 hours later but was replaced as chairman by longterm Farage ally Dr David Bull and instead agreed to head their Doge unit, modelled on the one Elon Musk created for Donald Trump, which aims to find savings and cut costs in the councils Reform won control of last May.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Robert Jenrick accuses Zia Yusuf in antisemitic tweet row
Robert Jenrick has accused Zia Yusuf of 'bullshit', after the senior Reform UK figure said that a member of his team 'accidentally pressed like' on an antisemitic X post. The shadow justice secretary said that Nigel Farage's party should give ex-chairman Mr Yusuf 'the boot'. Mr Yusuf has apologised for the incident, which comes after an anonymous X user posted a video that appeared to show Mr Yusuf liking a tweet attacking Mr Jenrick's wife, who is Jewish. Since last summer, likes on X have been privatised, so that only the liker and the poster can see them, rather than a wider audience. In a message posted on X on Friday, Mr Yusuf 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.' Mr Yusuf said the post in question is 'equally racist against me' and contains reference to 'brown savages'. 'The amount of antisemitism and racism on this platform is spiralling out of control, and I hope that changes soon,' he added. Mr Jenrick called the apology 'bullshit'. 'The mask has slipped,' he added. 'Likes are private. You thought nobody would ever know. Unfortunately for you, the racist account who posted the tweet and could see the likes exposed you. ' Reform should give you the boot.' Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Mr Jenrick's message was 'well said'. Mr Yusuf is head of Reform's initiative to drive down local public spending, based on the US's department of government efficiency, also known as Doge. He was given the position after he quit as party chairman.
