Why has Zia Yusuf returned to Reform UK a Few Days after Quitting?

Zia Yusuf, who resigned as Reform UK chairman on Thursday, is back working for the party in a new position.

He will now lead Reform’s newly launched “Doge team”, a group modelled on the Department of Government Efficiency created by US President Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, Yusuf had said campaigning for Reform was no longer “a good use of my time”. He gave no further explanation at the time.

On June 7, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he was “delighted” Yusuf had returned. Farage said Yusuf would take on a more public role and appear in the media more often.

Farage said: “Zia regrets what he said and did the other day. It was a combination of 11 months [of] hard work and exhaustion.”

In a statement on X, Zia Yusuf said he had been flooded with messages urging him to stay:

“After 11 months of working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single day off, my tweet was a decision born of exhaustion.

“I came into politics out of belief that Nigel Farage was the man to lead the country. I believe in these things more than ever.”

Before quitting, Yusuf had criticised Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin, who called on Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to ban the burqa during Prime Minister’s Questions.

At the time, Yusuf said it was “dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do”. Reform UK does not support a burqa ban.

Farage defended Yusuf and said, “he gets even more racial abuse on X than ever” when topics like Islam are raised.

He added: “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.”

Farage said Zia Yusuf had been doing too much: “His previous workload was way too much for anybody.”

Asked if Yusuf was burnt out, he said that description was fair:

“I would credit much of the success we enjoyed on 1 May and since to his considerable efforts.”

“Any discussion around Islam, terrorism, in this case the burqa and he can’t win.

“He is subjected to pretty vile abuse and… we’re all human. He overreacted to it and he admits himself it was a mistake.”

Farage dismissed claims that the incident reflected badly on the party.

“We will emerge from this much stronger.”

Reform’s “Doge UK” unit will focus on identifying spending cuts in local councils now controlled by the party.

The party also confirmed it would expand its leadership team. A new chairman and deputy chairman are expected to be announced next week.