Tensions within Reform UK have spilled over after Nigel Farage ousted its two longstanding deputy leaders and made other changes at the top.
Ben Habib, a former Brexit party MEP, who had been co-deputy leader since March 2023, said he was considering his position after Farage told him on Thursday that he was being replaced by the Reform MP and former leader Richard Tice.
“I have long held concerns about the control of the party and the decision-making processes,” said Habib, in an apparent reference to the unusual structure of Reform UK, which means there is little or no input from members, nor brakes on Farage’s decisions.
The millionaire businessman Zia Yusuf, who has emerged as one of Reform’s most significant new funders, has been named as the party’s new chair.
It emerged last week that almost a third of the £600,000 raised by the populist rightwing party during the fourth week of the election campaign came from Yusuf. The businessman, founder of a luxury concierge company called Velocity Black, went down well with members when he addressed a pre-election rally at the NEC in Birmingham.
Reform announced on Thursday that Tice, who stepped down as leader last month to let Farage return to the role, would move from his recent job as chair to become deputy leader in the Commons and in the party at large. Tice replaces the former two deputy leaders, Habib and David Bull.
The reaction of Habib, a former conservative donor, who failed to win a seat for Reform in the general election last week, lays bare simmering divisions.
The tensions go back to the formation in March 2019 of the Brexit party, which was renamed Reform UK in 2021. Determined to avoid the rebellions that had disrupted the Ukip party, Farage and others created a company that he could control rather than a conventional political party that had to be managed.
Farage reportedly owns a majority of shares in Reform UK Party Ltd, which is registered with Companies House. While four officers are named on the register, Farage is the only one named there as a “person with significant control”.
Farage said in a statement issued through the party: “These appointments are the first step to ensure that Reform UK is fit and ready to take forward its positive message. I have no doubt that we will professionalise the party and change politics for good.”
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Habib tweeted that he would be reflecting on his removal, adding: “The key for me is that Reform UK stays true to the promises made to the British people. The movement we have created does not belong to us, it belongs to the people. We are obliged and indebted to the British people.”
There were signs of earlier tensions shortly after Farage’s return as leader when he flouted an agreement that Habib had been involved in brokering to provide support for candidates of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party in Northern Ireland.
