Zia Yusuf admits he apologised to Sarah Pochin and Reform UK colleagues after calling burka ban question 'dumb'

 Former Reform UK Chairman Zia Yusuf has admitted he "apologised" to Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin and his party colleagues, following his resignation from the party.

In his first exclusive sit down interview since returning to Reform, Yusuf claimed that he "regrets" sending the tweet, admitting he "made a mistake".

Discussing his fallout with the Reform party, Yusuf explained: "I feel very good, it's great to be back. In those 48 hours or so that passed after I sent that tweet, which I now regret, I was inundated with messages, emails, DMs from people who told me how important Reform was to them.

"It's much more than a political party, it is a movement, which frankly, many of these people are putting in their messages, represents the last hope the country has to turn itself around."

Claiming that the messages from supporters contributed to him "reconsidering" a return to Reform, Yusuf told GB News that it made him realise "how important" his work for the party was.

Yusuf explained: "The messages also underscored how important they thought I was within the movement, and many of them were just very declaratively asking me to reconsider.

And as is often the case, sometimes it takes a little distance from someone or something for you to realise how important something is. And so those things coming together just made me realise, I'd made a mistake."

When pressed by GB News presenter Gloria De Piero on whether he apologised to his Reform colleagues, Yusuf revealed: "Yeah, I did, because my tweet was an intemperate tweet born of exhaustion, which I regret."