Nigel Farage has claimed ex-Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf quit the party having snapped after receiving a "tirade of personal racist abuse" on social media.
The Reform leader suggested Mr Yusuf was “burnt out”, saying the “very hard extreme right" was to blame for the abuse he received on social media.
Mr Yusuf, a Muslim businessman, left the party on Thursday saying he no longer believes “working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time”.
It came after the then chairman – who was brought in to professionalise the party - described new Runcorn MP Sarah Pochin as “dumb” after she challenged Keir Starmer over the legality of women wearing the burqa in the UK during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
Mr Yusuf - who has been the target of anger by many activists over several months - was hit with a tirade of abuse on social media in the wake of his remarks.
Speaking about his decision to quit the party, Mr Farage told Times Radio: “He and I have been pretty much inseparable over the course of the last 11 months. He is, frankly, a bit burnt out.”
He added: “When Zia says anything you cannot believe the absolute tirade of personal racist abuse that he gets on a platform called X, formerly known as Twitter. And I just think he snapped”.
Asked where the abuse comes from, Mr Farage responded: “Well, the interesting thing about it and and and and where he's really made a mistake is if you look at the nastiness, most of it comes from anon.
“I think it comes from the very hard extreme right. I have little doubt about that. They're Indian bots. Someone's paying for it to happen. I've no idea who it is.”
He denied that Mr Yusuf quit the party as a result of the row over whether or not the burqa should be banned in Britain, saying: “No, absolutely not. And Zia just thought we should be focusing on different priorities.”
But he later said he thinks that “on balance” the burqa should be banned, adding: “But do I think this is a major political priority for my party? Absolutely not.”
After the row over Ms Pochin’s remarks broke out, a Reform spokesperson clarified that banning burqas was not party policy, sparking calls from the far right for Mr Farage to adopt the proposals.
The latest party fracture comes just months after MP Rupert Lowe was ousted following a row which began with Mr Yusuf in December.
Mr Lowe is still seeking damages for defamation against Mr Yusuf after he was accused of threatening the chair.
Since Mr Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth, was forced out of the party in March, a number of former members, including ex-deputy leader Ben Habib and former London mayor candidate, Howard Cox, have demanded Mr Farage sack Mr Yusuf.
However, Reform still made massive gains in the May local elections and Mr Farage said that it was only able to happen thanks to Mr Yusuf’s professionalisation of the party.
Reacting to his resignation, Mr Farage wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “I am genuinely sorry that Zia Yusuf has decided to stand down as Reform UK Chairman. 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.”
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