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Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf has resigned from Nigel Farage’s rightwing populist social gathering after criticising feedback by one among its MPs about burkas, saying that he now not believes the function is a “good use of my time”.
“11 months in the past I grew to become Chairman of Reform. I’ve labored full time as a volunteer to take the social gathering from 14 to 30 per cent, quadrupled its membership and delivered historic electoral outcomes,” he wrote on X.
“I now not consider working to get a Reform authorities elected is an efficient use of my time, and hereby resign the workplace.”
Yusuf’s departure got here hours after he criticised Reform’s latest MP, Sarah Pochin, for asking the federal government a “dumb” query about whether or not it will ban the burka, a sort of full-body garment worn by some Muslim ladies.
Pochin, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, posed the query to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer within the Home of Commons on Wednesday.
“I do assume it’s dumb for a celebration to ask the PM if they might do one thing the social gathering itself wouldn’t do,” Yusuf mentioned on X earlier on Thursday.
His feedback garnered abusive feedback on the social media platform, with individuals referring to Yusuf’s Muslim heritage.
Yusuf, an entrepreneur and former banker, joined Reform in the summertime of 2024 after donating to the social gathering.
He’s the newest high-profile exit from the social gathering. Farage and Yusuf had a significant public battle with one among Reform’s former MPs, Rupert Lowe, which led to Lowe’s ejection from the social gathering.
Yusuf is at the moment one among solely two administrators of Reform UK alongside Farage, in keeping with Firms Home.
