Zia Yusuf returns to Reform 48 hours after quitting party, admitting he was 'blindsided' by burqa ban comments
Zia Yusuf has announced he's to return to Reform UK less than 48 hours after stepping down as chairman, claiming a "miscalculation" led to his resignation.
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Mr Yusuf had declared that his role within the party was no longer "a good use of my time", after leading Reform UK for just 11 months.
On Thursday, the 38-year-old businessman took to X to announce he would "hearby resign the office", with the dramatic U-turn coming after he declared it "dumb" for Reform MP Sarah Pochin to call on Sir Keir Starmer to ban the burqa.
Now admitting he felt "blindsided" by the move from Reform's newest MP, Yusuf described the controversy as an “internal miscommunication issue”.
He added he'd been left feeling drained following relentless racist abuse on X.
Taking to X to announce his return to the party, the chairman said he "I cannot let people down" after receiving "lovely" messages of support.
Announcing that he only came into politics out of a "a sense of duty", Yusuf vowed "to serve the country I love".
"The country that had been so kind to my parents and presented me with immense opportunity," he said on Saturday.
"Out of a sense of duty to do whatever I could to reverse decades of decline and make this a country one in which we could be excited for our children to grow up."
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Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.
— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) June 7, 2025
After 11 months of working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single… pic.twitter.com/gPRjpMGdeS
On Saturday, the Reform UK member told The Sunday Times that his decision to quit was a “mistake” and came as a result of what he described as “exhaustion” and working for 11 months “without a day off”.
Touching on the burqa fallout, Mr Yusuf admitted that he had learnt about the comments made by Pochin during PMQs "for the first time on X”.
“I don’t mind saying that it frustrated me. But these things happen. I’m not an MP, it’s perfectly reasonable for me not to have known about it and Sarah did inform the other MPs.”
Speaking alongside Farage as part of the interview, Yusuf, whose formal title is yet to be decided, will now, in effect, be undertaking “four jobs”.
According to the interview, he will now head up Reform’s equivalent of the Elon Musk-created DOGE - or department of government efficiency.
The department's role, according to Reform, will be targeting wasteful spending across the councils it now controls - beginning with councils in Kent.
Commenting on the return of Zia Yusuf to Reform UK, Labour Party Chair Ellie Reeves MP said: “Reform’s revolving door shows that the party is all about one person - Nigel Farage.
“Zia Yusuf’s humiliating hokey-cokey is laughable but there is nothing funny about Farage’s £80 billion in unfunded commitments," she continued.
“His reckless plan is Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget on steroids and would spark economic chaos that increases bills and mortgages.
“Working people simply can’t afford the risk of economic chaos with Reform UK.”
Following his resignation, Yusuf wrote in a post on X, he wrote: "11 months ago I became chairman of Reform. I've worked full time as a volunteer to take the party from 14 to 30% [in national polls], quadrupled its membership and delivered historic electoral results."
Farage had said he is "'genuinely sorry" for the chairman's resignation.
Speaking on Saturday, Yusuf said that “philosophically I am always a bit uneasy about banning things which, for example, would be unconstitutional in the United States, which such a ban no doubt would be”.
He added: “I do not think it is one of the most important issues British people face when they go about their day to day lives.”
Pochin, MP for Runcorn and Helsby, asked if the Prime Minister would ban the burqa. Reform UK immediately said it is not party policy.
On Thursday morning, Yusuf said that he thought "it's dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do".
Farage, on Yusuf's resignation, said: "As I said just last week, he was a huge factor in our success on May 1st 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."
A Labour spokesperson said: "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 Reform chair has done a runner so that he doesn't have to front up Farage's £80 billion in unfunded cuts, which would spark a Liz Truss-style economic meltdown.
"Nigel Farage's plans would put up every single mortgage in the country and hammer family finances, while forcing them to buy private healthcare. Working people simply can't afford the risk of Reform UK."
The Liberal Democrats meanwhile suggested Mr Yusuf was leading Reform's plans to cut public spending - the so-called "UK Doge" - by example.
The cost-cutting plans, which have been rolled out in Kent County Council where Reform won control in May, are based on the Department of Government Efficiency in the US, which was led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP 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."
On Monday, LBC spoke to Yusuf on Reform UK's plan to send in an Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) unit to look at "wasteful spending" in councils.
He said: "Our commitment to the British people and the people who voted for us was that we were going to bring very competent people in. And this is what our DOGE team are.
"They're extremely competent people. They are working as volunteers to come in and help resolve these issues."
He added: "It is a function of the two old parties having absolutely no appetite, frankly, to change the status quo."
Yesterday, in the House of Commons Sarah Pochin asked Sir Keir Starmer whether he would be joining countries including France, Denmark and Belgium in banning the face and body covering worn by some Muslim women.
Her question triggered disquiet in the Commons and cries of "shame" from MPs.
Journalist Khadija Khan said it is the "right time we discus" the issue, describing it as a security and a gender equality concern.
She described the burqa as "not just a piece of clothing" but attired that comes with a "misogynistic ideology" that "denigrates women".
She criticised the "dismissive" Prime Minister for his reaction to the question, adding it was a "shame" he refused to answer and that his indifference was "staggering".
Lila Tamea, a Muslim Yemeni activist opposes the ban saying that "forcing people to uncover something they don't wish to uncover is outright totalitarian".
She added: "Forcing anyone to reveal an item or any area of their body they don't want to is a dangerous move, it's a slippery slope".
She said there is a "lot of nuance" in regards to the definition of the burqa, and that there is a "deep misunderstanding" over the meaning of the veil.
Then-French president Nicolas Sarkozy introduced the ban in France in 2010.
Anyone found wearing the covering in a public space can face a fine of 150 euros (£125). It has since been unsuccessfully challenged in the European courts.
Belgium brought in a similar ban a year later, and other countries including Denmark and Austria have got similar laws.
Switzerland was the latest European country to introduce a prohibition, which started on January 1 this year.