Departure of Reform UK chair Zia Yusuf is latest in a long line of Farage fallings-out

Delivered without warning in a 54-word tweet, Zia Yusuf’s announcement that he was standing down as Reform UK’s chair has seemingly come out of the blue.For close watchers of Nigel Farage’s party in recent times, however, the departure of the man largely credited with “professionalising” its operation before last year’s general election performance and last month’s local election breakthrough is not a shock.A self-described “British Muslim patriot”, it had not been hard to find Islamophobic commentary about Yusuf among users of Reform UK Facebook groups. Others who left the party – or who have been ejected from it – were angered by his corporate approach, which they blamed for making it a cold house for grassroots veterans and mavericks.In his 11 months as Reform’s chair, Yusuf brought with him the ethos and language that might be more associated with a vibrant tech start-up than a hard-right British political party

Zia Yusuf quits as Reform UK chair after row over new MP’s call for burqa ban

Zia Yusuf has resigned as the chair of Reform UK after suggesting it was “dumb” of the party’s newest MP to ask the prime minister if he would ban the burqa.Yusuf, a donor and businessman, said he was resigning after less than a year in the job because he did not believe working to get a Reform government elected was a good use of his time.His departure is a blow to Nigel Farage as he tries to professionalise his rapidly growing party, with political rivals saying it shows the Reform leader cannot work with other senior figures without falling out.Yusuf, who is Muslim, quit after a dispute about the party’s handling of its position on the burqa. Sarah Pochin, the new Reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby, had pressed Keir Starmer on the issue in parliament on Wednesday, and Farage had also said on GB News that it was time for a debate about the burqa

Liz Truss hits back at Tory shadow chancellor for mini-budget disavowal

Liz Truss has hit out at the Conservatives’ shadow chancellor after he formally disowned her hastily reversed 2022 mini-budget, saying it had damaged the party’s reputation for economic competence.The former prime minister labelled Mel Stride a “creature of the system”, part of a failed fiscal orthodoxy which, she argued, would prevent the Conservatives taking power again if left unchallenged.Stride’s insistence at a speech in London that “never again” would the Conservatives offer up a largely unfunded package of tax cuts is the first time that the party hierarchy under its leader, Kemi Badenoch, has definitively cut itself off from Truss, who lasted just 49 days in power.One Tory shadow minister said the impetus for Stride’s speech was in part to allow the Conservatives to attack Reform UK’s lavish programme of tax cuts as being a potential re-run of the Truss debacle, as Keir Starmer did last week.In his speech, Stride labelled Reform’s economic policies “pure populism”

This is not the answer to the threats Britain faces | Letters

The strategic defence review is premised on an increasing threat in Europe from Russian territorial expansion (Keir Starmer vows to make Britain ‘battle-ready’ as he unveils defence spending plans, 2 June). The lessons of Ukraine underline the reality of that threat. But there are other threats to the UK that require engagement across the world and that will not be solved by more drones and more bullets.Battles for territory and for political power beyond Ukraine result in death and despair for millions. Climate change, deepening inequality, poverty, famine and the displacement of populations generate humanitarian agendas that a country such as ours should respond to

Truss should be banned from ever running as Tory candidate again to show ‘we get it’, says former minister – as it happened

Conor Burns, a fomer Tory minister who lost his seat at the election, has welcomed Mel Stride’s speech this morning (see 10.19am), but urged the party to go further – and rule out Liz Truss ever again being allowed to stand as a candidate for the Conservatives.In a post on social media, he said:It is long overdue for the Conservative Party to draw a line under the ClusterTruss. It was a period of shame in the Party’s noble history. With a lack of any self awareness, zero contrition and deranged conspiracy theories she has made it hard for the party to rebuild

Like a rural bank manager, Sideshow Mel wades into the Tories’ battle for irrelevance | John Crace

Some things in life you just don’t see coming. Like a lottery win. Like Spurs winning a European trophy. You can now add to those two: Mel Stride getting a full house for one of his speeches. Not even standing room was available