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PA MediaFormer Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has referred to as a row over a social media publish – during which he mentioned it used to be “dumb” for certainly one of his MPs to name for a burka ban – a “storm in a teacup”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Yusuf mentioned he regretted the publish and that “exhaustion led to a poor decision”.
Shortly after criticising MP Sarah Pochin, Yusuf hand over as chairman announcing that seeking to get Reform UK elected used to be now not “a good use of my time”.
However, two days later he returned to paintings for the birthday party albeit in a unique function, main the birthday party’s Doge unit, a crew impressed through the United States Department of Government Efficiency, arrange through President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
The initiative targets to chop wasteful spending within the councils Reform now controls.
Asked why he had resigned as chairman, Yusuf mentioned: “I’ve been working pretty much non-stop, virtually no days off.
“It may be very tricky to stay going at that tempo.”
He said one of the reasons he had “modified his determination so briefly” and returned to work for the party, was that he had been “inundated” by supportive messages from Reform voters and members.
The series of events began last Wednesday when Pochin, the newly-elected MP for Runcorn and Helsby, asked Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer if he would join France and Denmark in banning the burka, a veil worn by some Muslim women that covers the face and body, “within the pursuits of public protection”.
The following day Yusuf, who is a Muslim, posted on X: “I do suppose it is dumb for a birthday party to invite the PM if they might do one thing the birthday party itself would not do”.
Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Yusuf said “the item that pissed off me on the time” was that Pochin had not chosen to ask something that was party policy.
Asked for his views on a ban, he said: “If I used to be an MP I might take into accounts it very deeply, I feel I most certainly can be in favour of banning face coverings in public writ massive, now not simply the burka.
“I’m very queasy and uneasy about banning things that for example would be unconstitutional in the US but we have a particular situation in the UK.”
He mentioned he didn’t imagine Islam used to be “a threat to the country” however added that the United Kingdom had “a problem with assimilation”.
Commenting at the row right through a seek advice from to Port Talbot in Wales, Reform UK chief Nigel Farage mentioned the birthday party had “hit a speed bump” and joked it have been going over the velocity prohibit.
He mentioned Yusuf has “lost his rag” and put out an “intemperate comment or two” however added: “It was pretty clear by the next morning he quickly regretted what he had done.
“He made a mistake and plunged us into a troublesome position. I forgave him, I mentioned ‘do not do it once more’ however I forgave him.”
Over the weekend, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was also asked her views on banning the burka.
She told the Telegraph: “People must be allowed to put on no matter they would like, now not what their husband is looking them to put on or what their neighborhood says that they must put on.”
However, she said that organisations should be able to decide what their staff wear and that she asked people coming to her constituency surgeries to remove face coverings “whether or not it is a burka or a balaclava”.
“I’m now not speaking to those who aren’t going to turn me their face,” she added.
The Muslim Council of Britain accused her of “desperation” adding: “Kemi Badenoch is not atmosphere the schedule – she’s scrambling to stay alongside of Reform UK’s divisive rhetoric.”
