Zia Yusuf has announced he is returning to Reform UK – just 48 hours after quitting as the party’s chair.
The businessman, who said his decision to leave was an error that came as the result of exhaustion, will take up a new role in the party following peace talks with leader Nigel Farage.
While his formal title has not been decided, he is expected to lead Reform’s Elon Musk-inspired Doge unit, modelled on the Department of Government Efficiency set up by Donald Trump in the US.
Reform’s Doge UK team was set up to identify spending cuts in councils the party now controls and was formally launched this week.
Mr Yusuf will also oversee some aspects of policymaking, fundraising and media appearances for the party. A new party chair is expected to be appointed next week and a deputy chair will be hired too.
It comes just two days after Mr Yusuf said he no longer believes “working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time”.
While Mr Farage is pleased about his ex-chair’s decision to rejoin the party’s leadership, it is unlikely to resolve growing concerns about the Reform leader’s ability to work with others.
Mr Yusuf announced plans to quit the role after describing Sarah Pochin – who won last month's Runcorn and Helsby by-election for the party – as “dumb” after she challenged Sir Keir Starmer over the legality of women wearing the burqa in the UK during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
But speaking to The Times on Saturday alongside Mr Farage, Mr Yusuf said his decision to quit was an “error”.
“When I pushed that tweet out it was a coming together of a bit of exhaustion and a feeling that all I got in return for it was abuse”, he said.
“I was doing so many things, in the foreground and in the background. Anybody who has been part of a high-growth start-up outside of politics will sympathise and empathise with that.
“What has happened since then is that I’ve been inundated with messages from Reform members and supporters, who were saying they were devastated and heartbroken and asking me to really reconsider my decision.”
Mr Yusuf added: “It made me realise that in that moment I was turning my back on that – and I didn’t want to do that. I realised I did have an important role to play. I spoke to Nigel and said I don’t mind saying I made an error. It was a function of exhaustion.”
The ex-Reform chair – 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 about Ms Pochin.
But asked about the row over banning the burqa, Mr Yusuf – a practicing Muslim – said: “I certainly did not resign because I have any strong views about the burqa itself.”
He admitted that he felt blindsided by Ms Pochin’s decision to ask about a ban at PMQ’s, saying it was an “internal miscommunication issue”.
“I learnt about it for the first time on X,” he said. “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.”
Mr Yusuf added that he would probably vote to ban the burqa if there was a vote and he was in parliament, but added: “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 continued: “I do not think it is one of the most important issues British people face when they go about their day-to-day lives.”
The latest Reform fracture came just months after MP Rupert Lowe was ousted from the party following a row which began in December.
Just hours before he announced he was rejoining the party, Mr Farage said Mr Yusuf had “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.
Mr Farage told BBC News: "Zia regrets what he said and did the other day. It was a combination of 11 months hard work and exhaustion."
Mr Farage said Mr Yusuf "gets even more racial abuse on X than ever" when Islam is being discussed.
"In retrospect he knows a lot of it is bots trying to damage Reform. It is not Reform members. Yes some of it is the alt right, but there's a lot of bots. He regrets it and wants to continue working for us."
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