Yusuf u-turns on resignation and returns to Reform – Daily Business

Zia Yusuf, who resigned as chairman of Reform UK on Thursday, is return to work for the party in a new role following a flood of calls for him to reconsider his decision.

He will lead its “Doge team” – which is modelled on Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, set upt to root out waste and inefficiency in government.

Mr Yusuf resigned on Thursday evening saying that working to get the party elected was no longer “a good use of my time”.

It came hours after newly-elected member Sarah Pochin used Prime Minister’s Questions to call on the government to ban the burqa. Mr Yusuf described the question as “dumb”

However, yesterday the party doubled down on the issue by calling for a debate.

Today Mr Yusuf tweeted that over the last 24 hours he had received “a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.”

He said his decision to quit was a result of exhaustion following 11 months working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single day off.

He said he wanted to make the country “one in which we could be excited for our children to grow up.

“I came into politics out of belief that Nigel Farage was the man to deliver that.

“Having read the messages, I believe in these things more than ever. I know the mission is too important and I cannot let people down. 

“So, I will be continuing my work with Reform, my commitment redoubled. 

“Reform has come a long way since I was appointed Chairman, and has moved from ‘startup’ to ‘scaleup’. 

“Given this, and that we have now won power at a local level, I will focus on a new role. I will be running the UK DOGE team to fight for taxpayers, as well as working on party policy and representing it in the media.

“I will continue to give all my time to the most important project of my life, getting a Reform government elected with Nigel as Prime Minister.”

Mr Farage said: “Zia regrets what he said and did the other day.

“It was a combination of 11 months hard work and exhaustion.”