Reform civil war: Nigel Farage slaps down Zia Yusuf 

If Reform’s dire poll ratings weren’t enough to keep Nigel Farage preoccupied, the Reform UK leader has had to slap down his home affairs spokesperson for using language that many have called ‘totally unacceptable’.

Farage has slapped down Zia Yusuf after he described a former Tory cabinet minister who served in the Army “a traitor to Britain”.

Farage told the Sun that Yusuf’s comments were ‘over the top’ and added: “That is too strong a language. I shall give him a ticking off, don’t worry.”

The Reform leader made the comments after Yusuf took aim at former Tory cabinet minister Ben Wallace after he criticised Reform’s plan to fix the shortage of prison spaces by sending foreign criminals abroad. Wallace had posted on X asking Reform to set out how it would work in practice, given that many countries have refused to take offenders.

Rather than engage with his points, Yusuf attacked Wallace calling him a ‘traitor’. He posted 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.”