REFORM UK chairman Zia Yusuf has reversed his move to quit the party just 48 hours after he dramatically resigned his post.
The businessman says his sudden decision to quit on Thursday was due to “exhaustion”, following 11 months of working to “build a political party from scratch”.
But despite previously saying he no longer believed that trying to get Nigel Farage elected PM was a “good use of my time”, the businessman will now return to the party in a new role.
This fresh position will see him head up a “UK DOGE team”, inspired by Elon Musk’s government “efficiency” department in the US.
In a statement on X, Mr Yusuf said: “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.
“After 11 months of working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single day off, my tweet was a decision born of exhaustion.”
He added: “I know the mission is too important and I cannot let people down.
“So, I will be continuing my work with Reform, my commitment redoubled.”
Mr Yusuf has also reversed his view on the party’s leader – Nigel Farage – saying now that he believes it’s the “most important project of my life” to get the politician elected as prime minister.
He says he will now dedicated “all my time” to the Reform project, running a “UK DOGE team”.
Writing on X, Mr Yusuf added: “Reform has come a long way since I was appointed Chairman, and has moved from ‘startup’ to ‘scaleup’.
“Given this, and that we have now won power at a local level, I will focus on a new role.
“I will be running the UK DOGE team to fight for taxpayers, as well as working on party policy and representing it in the media.”
Nigel Farage has welcomed the news of his former chairman’s return, saying: “I am delighted that Zia Yusuf will head up Reform UK’s DOGE department.”
Mr Yusuf’s resignation on Thursday came after an internal row over the banning of the burqa.
The multi-millionaire ex-businessman had attacked the party’s newest MP Sarah Pochin as “dumb” for asking Sir Keir Starmer to outlaw the Muslim covering in the Commons on Wednesday.
Mr Yusuf said he had been left feeling undervalued by some in the party and drained after being subjected to relentless racist abuse on X, and made the comments in “error”.
“I spoke to Nigel and said I don’t mind saying I made an error. It was a function of exhaustion,” he said.
Asked about the row over talk of banning the burka, Mr Yusuf said he “certainly did not resign because I have any strong views about the burqa itself” but felt blindsided by Sarah Pochin’s question to Sir Keir Starmer.
He said that “if there were a vote and I was in parliament, I would probably vote to ban it actually” but 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”.
