Nigel Farage’s 10 most public spats as Reform rocked after ‘serious lack of leadership’

There are fresh questions over Nigel Farage’s leadership skills following the Zia Yusuf saga, with the Reform leader having got in a number of public spats over the years

The latest Reform UK drama shows it’s “Nigel’s way or the highway” amid growing questions about Nigel Farage’s leadership ability, Labour says.

Last week the party was rocked when chairman Zia Yusuf stood down hours after accusing Reform’s newest MP of asking a “dumb” question at PMQs. But in a round of “humiliating hokey-cokey” he later announced his return, despite saying getting Mr Farage into No10 was no longer a “good use of my time”.

The debacle was seized on by Mr Farage’s ally-turned-nemesis Rupert Lowe, who said it showed the Reform leader “must never be Prime Minister”. The former Reform MP, who now sits as an independent, has previously accused his old boss of running Reform like a “cult”.

Labour has said Mr Yusuf’s brief exit highlights Mr Farage’s “inability to maintain good relations with any of his colleagues”.

Here we look at some of the best-known cases that raise questions about his leadership skills as he tries to convince the country he can run the country.

READ MORE: Nigel Farage’s No2 plots ‘reckless cuts worth more than NHS budget’ as voters warned

1. Zia Yusuf: the Reform chairman initially resigned after suggesting Reform’s newest MP, Sarah Pochin, had asked a ‘dumb’ question at Prime Minister’s Questions. Mr Farage’s response suggested Mr Yusuf didn’t have the mettle for the ‘highly pressured and difficult’ political world. Humiliated Yusuf now says he “made an error. It was a function of exhaustion”
2. Rupert Lowe: Reform’s fifth MP was expelled and reported to the police by the party. The explosive row that followed saw Mr Lowe accuse Mr Farage of running a ‘cult’, said he was ‘messianic’ and ‘must never be PM’, and said the Reform leadership had ‘zero integrity’. Mr Farage, in return, suggested he’d ‘rather eat razor blades’ than allow Mr Lowe back to Reform
3. Elon Musk: Mr Farage fell out with Elon Musk after criticising his support for Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. In response, Musk suggested he ‘doesn’t have what it takes’ to lead Reform
4. Gawain Towler: Mr Towler was sacked by Mr Farage after two decades with various Eurosceptic outfits. He suggested Reform infighting was ‘sub-optimal’
5. Ben Habib: Mr Farage called Mr Habib ‘bitter’ and ‘twisted’ after he was passed over for Deputy Leader. Mr Farage suggested Mr Habib leaving the party was ‘a huge relief’. In return, Mr Habib called the Reform leader a ‘coward’, accused him of ‘childish behaviour’ said Reform was a ‘cult’ and ‘unfit to govern’
6. Douglas Carswell: Mr Farage accused former UKIP MP Douglas Carswell of blocking efforts to give him a peerage and called him a ‘Tory party posh boy’ who should be expelled from UKIP. Mr Carswell resigned UKIP and blamed Mr Farage for the party’s decline saying that “Far from having a strategy, we seemed to be driven by whatever came out of Nigel’s mouth”
7. Dominic Cummings and Vote Leave: Mr Farage said Vote Leave top brass were ‘cretins’ just a month before the referendum.
8. Suzanne Evans: Former UKIP Deputy Chairman Suzanne Evans said Mr Farage was ‘very divisive’ and suggested ‘somebody else’ should front the Brexit campaign. She was dropped as a party spokesperson
9. Patrick O’Flynn: Mr O’Flynn called Farage ‘snarling, thin-skinned, and aggressive’ and stood down as UKIP’s economics spokesperson
10. Alan Sked: The founder of UKIP called Mr Farage a ‘silly bugger’ for focusing on immigration

Ellie Reeves, Labour Party Chair, said: “Zia Yusuf’s humiliating hokey-cokey in recent days might be laughable but it just goes to show that the party revolves around just one person who clearly has a problem with working relationships. For Farage to fall out with one colleague might be an accident but to feud with everyone you’ve ever worked with suggests a serious lack of leadership. Nigel Farage is only happy when he’s in total control.

“It’s Nigel’s way or the highway. How on earth would he run a country if he can’t manage a handful of politicians without sparking chaos every few weeks? Reform are just not serious. They’ve pledged £80 billion in unfunded spending, would put up every single mortgage in the country and hammer family finances, while forcing them to buy private healthcare. Working people simply can’t afford the risk of Reform UK.”

Reform UK has been contacted for comment.

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