Zia Yusuf Says Reform Would Deport All Illegal Immigrants – But Nigel Farage Has Said That’s ‘Impossible’

Posted on 09/06/2025 by Boris Clair

Reform UK’s former chairman has said the party would deport all illegal immigrants, despite Nigel Farage previously saying it was “impossible”.

Zia Yusuf made the pledge in his first broadcast interview since returning to a senior role in the party.

He stunned Westminster by resigning as chairman on Thursday, only to return to the fold 48 hours later. Yusuf is now heading up Reform’s equivalent of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

On Radio 4′s Today programme this morning, he said: “Reform will deport every illegal immigrant in this country.

“I want to be crystal clear about what my position is, and Reform UK’s position is, which is we will deport everybody who is here in this country illegally, which is roughly about 1.2 million people.”

But that put him at odds with Farage, who last year declared that mass deportations could not be done.

Asked by GB News if he supported removing all illegal immigrants, he said: “It’s impossible to do. Literally impossible to do.

“For us, at the moment, it’s a political impossibility.”

Asked if it was his ambition to be able to do it, Farage replied: “No. So it’s pointless even going there.

“It’s a political impossibility, we simply can’t do it.”

Reform UK Mocked After Zia Yusuf Returns Just 48 Hours After Quitting

Posted on 07/06/2025 by Boris Clair

Reform UK have been mocked after Zia Yusuf returned to the party fold just 48 hours after quitting as chairman.

He stunned Westminster on Thursday by dramatically quitting after becoming embroiled in a row over whether or not burqas should be banned.

In a post on X, 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.”

But in an equally-stunning development, Yusuf announced on Saturday evening that he was returning to the party, albeit in a different capacity.

He said in another post on X: “Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.”

Claiming his resignation was “a decision born of exhaustion”, Yusuf added: “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.”

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Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.

After 11 months of working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single… pic.twitter.com/gPRjpMGdeS

— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) June 7, 2025

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Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.

After 11 months of working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single… pic.twitter.com/gPRjpMGdeS

— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) June 7, 2025

But the about-turn was immediately ridiculed by Reform’s political opponents.

Labour chair 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.”

A Lib Dem spokesman said: “It looks like Reform are playing musical chairman.”

Zia Yusuf Announces His Return To Reform UK Two Days After Shock Exit As Party Chair

Posted on 07/06/2025 by Boris Clair

Zia Yusuf has announced he will return to Reform UK despite quitting as the party’s chair just two days ago.

Yusuf resigned after almost a year at the forefront of Nigel Farage’s rightwing party.

His shock resignation came after he said it was “dumb” of a new Reform MP to ask the government if it intended to ban the burqa.

But today Yusuf has declared that he will be leading “the UK DOGE team”, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency previously headed up by Elon Musk in the US – an idea Reform has been trying to install in Britain.

In a post on X, Yusuf wrote: “Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.

“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 only came into politics out of a sense of duty, to serve the country I love.”

He continued: “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.”

It’s a sharp contrast to his brief statement on Thursday, where 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.”

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Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.

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— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) June 7, 2025

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Over the last 24 hours I have received a huge number of lovely and heartfelt messages from people who have expressed their dismay at my resignation, urging me to reconsider.

After 11 months of working as a volunteer to build a political party from scratch, with barely a single… pic.twitter.com/gPRjpMGdeS

— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) June 7, 2025

Why Keir Starmer Believes It’s Far Too Early To Write Reform UK’s Political Obituary

Posted on 06/06/2025 by Boris Clair

Nigel Farage knows more than most about surviving near-death experiences.

The Reform UK leader was campaigning for one of his previous parties, Ukip, on the day of the 2010 election when the light aircraft he was travelling in plunged to the ground.

Miraculously, he walked away from the wreckage and, after several more failed attempts, was finally elected to Westminster last July.

In similar fashion, those who believe that Zia Yusuf’s dramatic resignation as Reform’s chairman on Thursday night will inevitably lead to the party’s implosion are very likely to be disappointed.

That is certainly not how the development is being viewed in 10 Downing Street.

One senior ally of Keir Starmer told HuffPost UK: “Their success is because of how pissed off people are with the state of the country, not because of any great love for them or Nigel Farage.

“So it would be a mistake to think that they will just disappear because they are a bunch of clowns.”

Nevertheless, many could not resist the temptation to revel in Reform’s discomfort, pointing out that internal splits have been a recurring feature of Farage’s political career.

Indeed, it is only three months since Rupert Lowe, one of the five Reform MPs elected at the last election, was booted out of the party.

Gavin Barwell, the former Tory MP who was Theresa May’s chief of staff when she was PM, described Yusuf’s resignation as the “least surprising political news ever”.

Posting on X, he said: “Nigel Farage is incapable of sharing the stage. Sooner or later, anyone who tries to do so gets pushed off it. The only surprise is that they seem surprised when it happens.”

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Least surprising political news ever. @Nigel_Farage is incapable of sharing the stage. Sooner or later, anyone who tries to do so gets pushed off it. The only surprise is that they seem surprised when it happens https://t.co/djOw1Vz8vT

— Gavin Barwell (@GavinBarwell) June 5, 2025

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Least surprising political news ever. @Nigel_Farage is incapable of sharing the stage. Sooner or later, anyone who tries to do so gets pushed off it. The only surprise is that they seem surprised when it happens https://t.co/djOw1Vz8vT

— Gavin Barwell (@GavinBarwell) June 5, 2025

That view seemed to be reinforced by the resignation of Nathaniel Fried, the tech entrepreneur Zia Yusuf unveiled on Monday as head of Reform’s Doge-style cost-cutting unit.

But Chris Hopkins, political research director at pollsters Savanta, cautioned against over-interpreting the significance of Yusuf’s departure, insisting there is little reason to believe it will damage Reform’s standing with voters.

“The public aren’t going to care hugely about a party chairman resigning,” he said. “Any idea of Zia Yusuf being that important to voters and that Reform should be written off because he’s gone, I think is incredibly premature.

“Unless Farage himself is involved in serious controversy, or has to step aside, then Reform are going to continue to be strong.”

Further evidence of the right-wing party’s durability came just a few hours after Yusuf announced on X that he no longer believed that “working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time”.

Although they came third in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, it was the size of their vote share – 26% – that made political observers sit up and take notice less than a year out from the next Scottish Parliament election.

For a party which did not even exist the last time the seat was contested in 2021, and which has no organisational apparatus to speak of in Scotland, it was a remarkable result.

Luke Tryl of the More in Common think-tank said Reform “have clearly built a credible base of support since the general election in Scotland”.

“If, and it’s a real if given their recent turmoil, they can hold it together they could be a formidable force in the Scottish Parliament next year,” he said.

Reform UK insiders believe Yusuf’s resignation could even turn out to be a good thing for the party, not least because it will be welcomed by many party workers.

“He’s a hard worker and totally committed, but he’s not a good man manager,” said one source. “There won’t be many tears shed at HQ that he’s gone.”

Others have sympathy with him, insisting that Yusuf should not have been expected to put up with the online abuse which came with the job.

One source said: “The amount of shit he got from people because he’s Muslim would have been off the scale – why do you need that sort of shit?

“He was working 15 hour days for eight months and wasn’t even being paid.

“I don’t think there’s malice in him, he was just inexperienced when it came to politics. But there’s no doubt that the work he did was at least in part responsible for the party’s recent success.”

Gawain Towler, who was sacked as Reform’s chief spin doctor by Yusuf, dismissed the idea that the chairman’s departure will precipitate the party’s implosion.

“Those are just comfortable feelings for people who need comfort,” he said. “The party will go onwards and upwards from here.”

Nigel Farage has been accused of “fantasy economics” after Reform UK’s chairman said the party would slash up to £400 billion a year of public spending in its first term in office if it wins the next election.

Zia Yusuf insisted the party could find the huge savings by cutting back on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes, scrapping Net Zero policies and slashing quangos.

Speaking on Sky News on Sunday, he said Farage was “crazy about” the plan.

He said: “When was the last time you had a political leader in this country with a real shot at Downing Street, calling for £300 to £400 billion of cuts in the first term of government?

“I cannot remember it inside my lifetime, he was really crazy about this. Almost all of those cuts would actually improve the lives of British people. That is the state of decay in this country.”

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Zia Yusuf(chair Reform) tells #TrevorPhillips, with a straight face, that Reform is \"calling for £300b to £400b of cuts in public spending in there 1st term of government… & those cuts will improve the lives of British people…\" 🤔#bbclaurak pic.twitter.com/4MxJSUEIe8

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) June 1, 2025

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Zia Yusuf(chair Reform) tells #TrevorPhillips, with a straight face, that Reform is “calling for £300b to £400b of cuts in public spending in there 1st term of government… & those cuts will improve the lives of British people…” 🤔#bbclaurak pic.twitter.com/4MxJSUEIe8

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) June 1, 2025