Zia Yusuf's Exit Marks a Turning Point for Reform UK
So, big news today—Zia Yusuf, the chairman of Reform UK, has officially stepped down. This is a major shift for the party, and the timing couldn’t be more telling. Yusuf announced his resignation with a short, pointed message on social media, saying that working to get the party elected was “no longer a good use of my time.” No long explanation, no press conference—just a clear decision to walk away. And honestly, given everything that’s unfolded over the past few days, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise.
Let’s break down what’s been going on. Yusuf had been Reform UK's chairman for about 11 months. In that time, he poured his energy into transforming the party from a fringe group to a serious political contender. He boosted national polling numbers from 14% to 30%, quadrupled membership, and helped them secure big wins—like a by-election, two mayoral races, and 677 new councillors. That’s no small feat, especially considering he did all this as a full-time volunteer.
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But internal tensions within the party have been building for a while, and it seems like the recent incident involving new MP Sarah Pochin might’ve been the final straw. During her debut at Prime Minister’s Questions, she called on Keir Starmer to ban the burka—a move that was quickly met with backlash. Yusuf himself called it “dumb,” pointing out that it made no sense to ask the PM to implement a policy that wasn’t even part of Reform UK’s platform. That comment sparked a lot of chatter. Yusuf didn’t mince words, and some people inside the party reportedly didn’t like that.
Farage, the Reform UK leader, expressed regret over Yusuf’s departure, calling him “enormously talented” and crediting him as a huge factor in the party’s recent success. But even he admitted that Yusuf had seemed “disengaged” and may have simply had enough of the political grind. And let’s be honest, the atmosphere inside Reform UK has been pretty volatile lately. From interpersonal frictions to controversies like the burka comment, the party seems to be fighting more battles within itself than outside.
To make things even more dramatic, Yusuf’s ally and head of the DOGE initiative—an ambitious council-spending audit project inspired by Elon Musk—resigned alongside him. Yusuf had been championing that program just days earlier, so for him to bow out now really signals that something shifted fast behind the scenes.
This isn't just a resignation—it’s a wake-up call. Yusuf’s departure puts the spotlight on the identity crisis at the heart of Reform UK. Can it balance bold, sometimes controversial reform with professionalism and political discipline? We’ll see. But one thing’s for sure: Zia Yusuf’s time at Reform UK changed the game, and his exit will be felt for a long time.
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