Zia Yusuf is returning to Reform UK just 48 hours after quitting as party chairman, claiming his resignation was a “mistake”.
The 38-year-old businessman said his decision to stand down had been the result of “exhaustion” and working for 11 months “without a day off”.
Party leader Nigel Farage, speaking to the Sunday Times newspaper alongside Mr Yusuf, said the former chairman will now effectively be doing “four jobs”, though his title has not yet been decided.
He will lead Reform’s plans to cut public spending – the so-called “UK Doge”, based on the US Department of Government Efficiency which was led by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
The ex-chairman will also take part in policymaking, fundraising and media appearances.
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”.
Announcing his resignation on Thursday afternoon, he 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 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”.
Reform will hope the show of unity between Mr Farage and the former chairman is enough to quell concerns about internal personality clashes, amid recent scrutiny of the leader’s fallings-out with former allies.
It follows the suspension of MP Rupert Lowe from the party following complaints about his conduct, which he denied, and suggested the leader had a tendency to row with colleagues he felt threatened his position.
Labour branded Mr Yusuf’s return a “humiliating hokey-cokey” and said working people could not afford “the risk of economic chaos with Reform UK”.
Party chairwoman Ellie Reeves 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.
“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.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “It looks like Reform are playing musical chairman.”
Meanwhile, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said bosses should have the right to ban staff from wearing burkas and other face coverings in the workplace.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mrs Badenoch had “strong views” about face coverings and would not allow people into her constituency surgeries if they wore veils.
“My view is that people should be allowed to wear whatever they want, not what their husband is asking them to wear or what their community says that they should wear,” she said.
“Organisations should be able to decide what their staff wear; it shouldn’t be something that people should be able to override.”
British employers are able to set their own workplace dress codes, but could face legal challenges under equality law if they tell staff to remove religious clothing without demonstrating it is “proportionate” and for a “legitimate” aim, such as health and safety.
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