Crisis, what crisis? Reform welcomes Zia Yusuf back 48 hours after he quit as chairman – to work in ‘UK Doge’ alongside man who mocked departure

Reform UK’s deputy leader today said it was ‘great news’ that Zia Yusuf had returned to the party – just 48 hours after he walked out on his job as chairman.

Richard Tice said Mr Yusuf had ‘done a brilliant job in growing the party’ and suggested he quit because of ‘exhaustion’ and working for 11 months ‘without a day off’.

The former banker abruptly U-turned on his decision to quit last night, returning to Reform to lead its plans to cut public spending.

The ex-chairman will also take part in policymaking, fundraising and media appearances. 

However his decision to come back to lead the so-called ‘UK Doge’, based on the US Department of Government Efficiency formerly led by tech billionaire Elon Musk, may raise some eyebrows.

He will be working alongside another millionaire, the Brexit backer Arron Banks, in councils run by Reform to route out supposed waste.

Mr Banks, who stood as a Reform candidate in the local elections in May, said this morning that Mr Yusuf’s return was ‘an inspirational move’ that played to the strengths of someone who was ‘a brilliant communicator with the media and a genius on tech’.

However, on Friday night, after Mr Yusuf resigned, he was less complimentary, tweeting: ‘Zia worked very hard but struggled with relationships and people. The corks will be popping in party HQ this evening.. Reform will power on …’

The former banker abruptly U-turned on his decision to quit last night, returning to Reform to lead its plans to cut public spending.

Richard Tice said Mr Yusuf had ‘done a brilliant job in growing the party’ and suggested he quit because of ‘exhaustion’ and working for 11 months ‘without a day off’.

He will be working alongside another millionaire, the Brexit backer Arron Banks (far left), in councils run by Reform to route out supposed waste.

Mr Yusuf said he was quitting Reform following the latest in a series of internal rows, in which he described a question to the Prime Minister concerning a ban on burkas from his party’s newest MP as ‘dumb’. 

Party leader Nigel Farage, speaking to the Sunday Times newspaper alongside Mr Yusuf, said the former chairman will return and effectively be doing ‘four jobs’, though his title has not yet been decided.

This morning it was put to Mr Tice that it does not look very professional for Reform’s chairman to be in, out, then back in again.

He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: ‘Zia Yusuf has done a brilliant job in growing the party, creating huge infrastructure, over 400 branches, but it’s a massive job and as we were growing incredibly fast, essentially that job was too much for one person, so we’re reorganising, and I’m delighted that Zia is staying with the party, and he’s going to be focusing on our Doge unit.

‘There is so much waste you’ve been talking about, how does the Government find more money?

‘Well, the best thing is to stop wasting money. I’m afraid, what we’re discovering as we look under the bonnet of the 10 councils that we are now in control of, is there’s waste everywhere, and it’s got to stop.

‘That’s what Zia is going to focus on, as well as fundraising. So it’s great news he’s with us.’

Meanwhile, shadow home secretary Chris Philp called Reform UK a ‘protest party’ and said it is offering ‘populist policies that are essentially Liz Truss on steroids’.

Friday: Mr Banks said colleague Zia Yusuf ‘worked very hard but struggled with relationships and people’.

Sunday: Mr Banks says his colleague’s return was ‘an inspirational move’ that played to the strengths of someone who was ‘ a brilliant communicator with the media and a genius on tech’.

Asked if it is time for the Conservatives to think about a more constructive approach to Reform, he told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: ‘Nigel Farage is saying he wants to destroy the Conservative Party, which makes it quite difficult to work together.

‘I mean, they’re all essentially a protest party.

‘You just asked about Liz Truss… they’re offering populist policies that are essentially Liz Truss on steroids.’

Announcing his resignation on Thursday afternoon, Mr Yusuf said: ‘I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office.’

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 that he made the comments in ‘error’.

He added: ‘I spoke to Nigel and said I don’t mind saying I made an error. It was a function of exhaustion.’

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 burka itself’ but felt blindsided by Sarah Pochin’s question to Sir Keir Starmer.

He said: ‘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’.