Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has become engulfed in a bitter power struggle over the future of home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf, The i Paper has been told.
Reform figures are split over Yusuf, with some insiders wanting him out of the party, while others think he remains a key asset.
There is also a fear in some quarters of Reform that if he does crash out of the party for a second time a chunk of members could follow him to a rival outfit.
Yusuf is back in the media spotlight following the suspension of the political commentator Tim Montgomerie from Farage’s party.
Montgomerie, a centre-right commentator who defected from the Conservatives in 2024, was suspended after questioning Farage’s tone after the Clacton by-election and publicly criticising Yusuf.
In an interview with The Spectator on Monday, Montgomerie said that Yusuf was behaving “like a child in politics” and urged him to be a “team player”.
The week before, he had criticised Yusuf for branding the former Tory defence secretary Ben Wallace a “traitor” – a comment which also earned a rare rebuke from Farage, who said Yusuf had been “over the top”.
Montgomerie had said: “Zia’s language and attitude towards any opponent is inappropriate and counter-productive… One of the biggest question marks over Nigel Farage’s leadership is whether he brings Zia under control.”
The i Paper has been told Montgomerie’s suspension was signed off by the party’s chief whip Lee Anderson, and that the decision was taken before The Spectator article, in which he criticised Yusuf, came to light. Farage was apparently unaware of the decision. Montgomerie has said he will appeal and wants to make it a “test case of whether [Reform] is a party that can tolerate free speech and dissent.”
A Reform spokesman said: “Zia is a key party figure and will be here for the long term.”
It is not the first time Yusuf has been at the centre of turbulence within the party and unwanted headlines for Farage.
In May, he publicly slapped down his Reform colleague Robert Jenrick over the details of the party’s deportation policy.
In 2025, he abruptly quit as the party’s chairman, saying it was no longer a “good use of my time” after a row about the burka with Reform MP Sarah Pochin. However, he returned to the party within 48 hours, with Farage saying his exit had been the result of work-related “exhaustion”.
Reform insiders claim there have been particular tensions between Yusuf and the Tory defectors.
Some people in Reform now believe that Yusuf is an unhelpful and destabilising presence. One Reform source accused him of being “rude” and “an ego-maniac”.
They claimed that Farage had ignored warnings about Yusuf from MP Rupert Lowe, who now leads the rival Restore Britain party. Lowe was kicked out of Reform after he was accused of “threats of physical violence” towards Yusuf and bullying employees. Lowe denied the claims and the Crown Prosecution Service said he would not face criminal charges after he was referred to police.
“Rupert [Lowe] warned Nigel re Zia,” they said. “Rupert spoke to many people who knew him. Nigel ignored him as he wanted his business operations acumen, but he was warned about him and chose to ignore it.”
A second Reform source claimed: “Everything [Yusuf] says is about Zia Yusuf. Nigel tolerates him because he is quite good at public speaking and holding his own when it comes to press conferences. He says the right thing to the crowds. But he has got an end game, to be leader when Nigel goes.”
Yusuf, Jenrick and deputy leader Richard Tice are all understood to be interested in succeeding Farage as Reform leader.
It is understood that Yusuf denies positioning himself to take over from Farage or that he is planning on leaving the party.
Other Reform insiders agree that tensions exist with Yusuf, but argue he is worth keeping within the party because of his straight talking and popularity with their supporters.
A third Reform source said: “Zia has got a different sort of way of behaving from other colleagues.”
But they added: “I think on balance he’s a positive advantage to Reform.
“There’s no question that the members like him. The members like plain speaking and they find that Zia is a plain speaker.”
A fourth source said that despite Yusuf’s previous disagreements with Lowe , they feared that if he left Reform he could end up joining Restore. “He plays well with the base” and lots of people might follow him if he went to another party, the source said.
The infighting has contributed to the sense of paranoia which has gripped the upper ranks of Reform amid fears that an insider may be leaking sensitive information about Farage to the media.
A source close to Farage has floated the theory with the Reform leader, who is understood to be “absolutely furious” about the leaks.
His anger is understood to be particularly focused on stories by The Sunday Times, which has run a series of articles examining the relationship between the convicted fraudster George Cottrell, nicknamed “Posh George”, and Farage. The source said: “This information is known by so few people.”
For his own part, Yusuf has appeared unrepentant about the events of recent days. On Tuesday night he claimed that Conservative-leaning newspapers were trying to bring him down.
He posted on X: “The entire Tory client press is now out to get me because they’ve seen same the polling I have. I am a lethal electoral threat to their party. They know I am locked onto the target of making Nigel Farage Prime Minister. And I will not be deterred.”
A Reform spokesman added: “The general secretary [Tom Waterhouse] and chairman [Lee Anderson] have had months of complaints regarding Tim’s behaviour and conduct. They saw fit to take action and protect the party.
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