Reform UK chairman calls Farage’s newest MP ‘dumb’ over burqa ban calls

The chairman of Reform UK has branded the party’s newest MP “dumb” for asking Sir Keir Starmer to introduce a burqa ban.

Sarah Pochin, the new Runcorn and Helsby MP, provoked the fury of Zia Yusuf on X (formerly Twitter) by using her first PMQs question to call on the prime minister to ban burqas “in the interest of public safety”.

But the row quickly escalated with sources suggesting that Mr Yusuf had been sidelined into the party’s DOGE project to find massive savings int he councils Reform controls and is no longer in charge of day-to-day party management.

open image in gallery

The row has brought back memories of the fracture causing in Reform earlier this year when MP Rupert Lowe was ousted from the party following a row which began with Mr Yusuf in December.

Mr Lowe is still seeking damages for defamation against Mr Yusuf after he was accused of threatening the chairman.

The latest row came after Ms Pochin used her question in PMQs on Wednesday to say: “Given the prime minister’s desire to strengthen strategic alignment with our European neighbours, will he, in the interest of public safety, follow the lead of France, Belgium, Denmark and others and ban the burqa?”

Sir Keir welcomed Ms Pochin to the Commons, but said “I am not going to follow her down that line”.

Now, Mr Yusuf has said it was “dumb for a party to ask the prime minister if they would do something the party itself wouldn’t do”.

He said he “had no idea about the question nor that it wasn’t [Reform] policy”.

A Reform spokesman later clarified that banning burqas was not party policy, sparking calls from the far-right for Mr Farage to adopt the proposals.

Mr Yusuf’s comments are only the latest pointer to infighting within Reform’s ranks.

open image in gallery

Reform has already lost Mr Lowe having been forced out amid an investigation into bullying claims and the party reporting him to the police over alleged threats made towards Mr Yusuf. The investigation was later dropped with no further action taken.

That came after he spoke out publicly against Mr Farage’s leadership of the party, accusing the arch-Brexiteer of having “messianic” tendencies.

There has been infighting between Reform’s top team and its councillors, too, with one quitting just days after last month’s local elections with a brutal attack on Mr Farage.

Donna Edmunds, who was elected in Hodnet, in Shropshire, was initially suspended for writing on X, formerly Twitter, that she was planning to defect from the party after the local elections.

She responded by quitting the party and warning that Mr Farage “must never be prime minister” and is a “terrible leader”.

Asked on Wednesday night about Ms Pochin’s comments on the burqa, Mr Farage said he would welcome a broader debate about face coverings in public.

He told GB News: “I think this debate, actually, goes beyond the burqa… I was in Aberdeen Monday, there was a mob there to meet me, an organisation called Antifa, and half of them had complete face coverings on so they would be unidentifiable.

“I don't think face coverings in public places make sense, and I think we do deserve debate about that, which I see the burqa as being a part.”

Reform’s former London Mayor candidate Howard Cox, who left the party over the treatment of Mr Lowe, called on Mr Yusuf to be sacked.

He said: “I believe that Nigel Farage is guilty too, of not immediately coming to support Pochin against the biased party chairman's asinine comment. Reform’s continued move to the left under Yusuf follows his central role in dismissing, without good reason, numerous loyal members and supporters across hundreds of party branches. He should be sacked.”

Reform UK and Ms Pochin were contacted for comment.