A civil war of sorts has broken out within Reform after a senior figure in the party condemned Zia Yusuf for his language towards a former Tory cabinet minister.
This week, Reform announced a controversial policy to deport foreign criminals in British prisons either back to their country of origin or, failing that, to nations such as El Salvador.
As seems to be the case with most Reform policy proposals now, it wasn’t long before people questioned the feasibility and real-world practicality of this.
One person to ask legitimate questions of the idea was former defence secretary Ben Wallace.
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The ex-Tory cabinet minister accused Yusuf of “making policy and facts up.”
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Yusuf in recent months, it’s that he doesn’t take criticism well.
In a furious reaction, he labelled Wallace a “moron” and a “traitor.”
He wrote in a post on X: “Incredible that this moron was defence secretary. Our policy today is in direct response to your government’s failures.
“If their home countries won’t take back, their citizens that are languishing in our jails, we are renting spaces in countries like El Salvador to put them.
“They will serve their full jail terms there, and will be banned from ever coming back to Britain.
“They may well include some of the thousands of Afghans you imported, including those who had not been vetted properly and including Taliban fighters (!).
“You know, the ones you took a super injunction out to keep secret from the British people? That’s why I call you a traitor to Britain. You fit the dictionary definition.”
Wallace, who served as a captain in the Scots Guard before entering politics, hit back though, writing: “Oh look a lesson from a man who never put a uniform on, just worked at bank.
“A man who is literally making policy and facts up. A man who cant even get his own party to pick him as an MP ( tell us why please?).
“When Reform stop taking £5m bungs and start being honest with people then people might take you seriously.”
Wallace also issued a reminder to Yusuf about what a real ‘traitor’ looks like.
Yusuf’s tweet also sparked an angry reaction from senior Reform figure Tim Montgomerie, who said the comments were ‘unacceptable.’
He wrote on X: “Zia’s language and attitude towards any opponent is inappropriate and counter-productive. Opponents are opponents… they aren’t enemies… or ‘morons.’
“One of the biggest question marks over Nigel Farage’s leadership is whether he brings Zia under control.”
Montgomerie added that Yusuf is a “man of huge talents but too much of his social media output is intemperate and reinforces Reform’s number one problem: our negative tactical voting challenge.”
In a follow-up tweet, Montgomerie said he had raised his concerns “privately and repeatedly” with both Yusuf and Farage,
Montgomerie’s concerns were echoed by other voices on the right as well, including former Tory minister David Gauke and Mail on Sunday commentator Dan Hodges.
Speaking to Times Radio on Tuesday morning, Wallace said he wanted an apology from Yusuf for his comments.
He said it was a “sad” and “desperate” attack against him, and that traitor is a “very loaded word.”