Reform lost their businessman - what does this mean for the party?

Zia Yusuf, chairman of Reform UK, during a news conference in London, UK, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Barely a week ago, Zia Yusuf was hosting journalists in the City, trying to sell them on Reform’s crypto plan.

But things quickly went awry for the Reform party chairman.

On Wednesday, Yusuf publicly contradicted Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s call in Parliament for a burqa ban. On Thursday, he resigned.

The chairman announced he was stepping down at the locus of much Reform campaigning: on X.

“I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office,” Yusuf said, while boasting having quadrupled the party’s membership and doubling its performance on the polls in just under a year.

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