LONDON —Former MEP David Bull has been appointed chair of Reform UK, ending days of uncertainty within Nigel Farage’s insurgent right-wing party.
The Reform UK leader said Bull, a broadcaster and former deputy leader of the party, will take over the party’s operations and “give leadership to that volunteer army out there.”
The previous chair Zia Yusuf resigned last week after one of the party’s five MPs raised the issue of burqas in parliament. He returned to the party in a new role days later, claiming his shock decision to depart was down to “exhaustion.”
“David’s job is not to get involved with the admin, it’s not to get involved with the tech — it’s to give leadership,” Farage said.
Farage’s populist party is consistently leading Labour and the Tories in all polling, with the party consistently hovering around 30 points.
Bull was formerly Brexit Party MEP for North-West England — Farage’s party which eventually morphed into Reform UK after Brexit.
“We are going to put Nigel Farage into No. 10 and we will become the governing party of the United Kingdom,” Bull said.
Three Reform UK MPs have suggested they are open to banning burqas. Farage has not committed to that policy, but told reporters on Tuesday: “Do I think in cultural terms, the burqa fits in with the British way of life? Not really. No.”
In an apparent show of unity Yusuf also attended the press conference alongside Farage and Bull, with the trio posing for photos together.
Yusuf said that he came back to head the party’s U.K. DOGE operation — an Elon Musk-style efficiency unit to examine all council spending in areas Reform controls — because he “realized how important the Reform movement was to people.”
He also said he regretted his social media posts right after resigning last week in which he said campaigning for Reform was “not a good use of my time.”
Giving his backing to Bull, Yusuf said: “We need someone who’s an incredible communicator, loved across the party, loved by the volunteers. He will do a better job than me in energizing volunteers on the frontline.
“A more affable and charming man than I am.”
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