Zia Yusuf - Home Affairs Spokesperson | Reform Watch
Profile and accountability tracker for Zia Yusuf, Home Affairs Spokesperson. null.
Role: Home Affairs Spokesperson
Recorded incidents (showing 21-25 of 25)
Zia Yusuf's X account liked an antisemitic and racist post about Robert Jenrick
Category: social media conduct
On 18 July 2025 Yusuf's X account was recorded liking a post that called Robert Jenrick a "traitorous Zogbot with a Jewish wife and family" and claimed he had "imported infinite brown savages to rape our women and children." The post used an established antisemitic slur alongside overtly racist language. Yusuf apologised, saying a member of the team who posts to his account had accidentally pressed like, and noted the post was also racist towards him. Jenrick dismissed the explanation as "bullshit" and called on Nigel Farage to give Yusuf "the boot." Rael Braverman said he had left Reform because he could not be in a party he considered to be led by Yusuf.
Sources: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/jenrick-calls-for-reform-uk-to-give-yusef-the-boot-over-antisemitic-social-media-post/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/18/reform-zia-yusuf-sorry-like-anti-semitic-post-jenrick/ https://www.thejc.com/news/politics/reform-uk-zia-yusuf-jenrick-zogbot-antisemitic-tweet-k8i923go
BBC investigation reported former staff allegations about Zia Yusuf's conduct at Velocity Black
Category: inappropriate behaviour
A BBC investigation published in June 2025, after Yusuf became Reform UK chairman, quoted former staff at his concierge business Velocity Black describing what they said was unpredictable and controlling behaviour, a climate of fear and frequent dismissals. The report also examined revenue figures signed off for a fastest-growing companies ranking, which former colleagues said used gross rather than net figures. Yusuf rejected the financial allegation, said the company's finance team led that process and that the figures were accurate to the best of their knowledge. He also denied a separate claim about an animal being left in the office overnight. The allegations are contested and no regulatory finding has been made against him.
Zia Yusuf called a Reform MP's burqa question "dumb", resigned as chairman and returned two days later
Category: inappropriate behaviour
After Sarah Pochin used her first Prime Minister's Questions to ask Keir Starmer to ban the burqa, Yusuf posted that he had "no idea about the question nor that it wasn't policy" and that it was "dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do." Hours later, on 5 June 2025, he resigned as chairman, saying he no longer believed working to get a Reform government elected was a good use of his time. He returned on 7 June 2025 after talks with Nigel Farage, citing exhaustion and the racist abuse directed at him, and took charge of a new efficiency unit. He later described the intervention as an error and said that were he an MP he would probably support banning face coverings in public. Farage said he had forgiven him and told him not to do it again, with party sources briefing that Farage had shown him who was boss.
Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/05/zia-yusuf-quits-as-chair-of-reform-uk-after-new-mp-burqa-ban-row https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/07/zia-yusuf-return-reform-uk https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq54p9epdg6o
Rupert Lowe referred to police over alleged threats to Zia Yusuf, with no charges brought
Category: other
On 7 March 2025 Reform UK suspended its MP Rupert Lowe and referred him to the Metropolitan Police over allegations that he had made physical threats against Yusuf on at least two occasions, alongside a separate complaint concerning the treatment of female staff. Lowe denied both, called the threat allegations untrue and said he believed he had been pushed out for talking too much about mass deportations. The Crown Prosecution Service announced on 14 May 2025 that there was insufficient evidence to charge Lowe over the alleged threats. The dispute split the party publicly and produced a sustained wave of racist and anti-Muslim abuse aimed at Yusuf from accounts aligned with Reform, which he and Nigel Farage later cited as a factor in his resignation as chairman.
Sources: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ge5jl62nro https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/14/former-reform-mp-rupert-lowe-says-nigel-farage-must-never-be-prime-minister https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/reform-zia-yusuf-racist-abuse-3735796
Zia Yusuf remained a Conservative member while serving as Reform UK chairman
Category: undisclosed interest
Zia Yusuf donated a six-figure sum to Reform UK in June 2024 and was appointed party chairman on 11 July 2024. The Guardian established that his Conservative Party membership was still active throughout that period, and that the Conservatives revoked it only after the newspaper raised the matter. Yusuf said cancelling had proved "quite hard to actually" do and that "for all I know I might still have a direct debit." The Conservative constitution bars members from publicly supporting another party. While the membership stood, Yusuf would have been eligible to vote in the Conservative leadership contest then under way, at the same time as chairing a rival party and funding its campaigns.
Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/08/reform-uk-chair-was-member-of-conservatives-until-last-week https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1933720/reform-uk-bombshell-new-chairman-conservatives