-By A Special Correspondent
(Lanka-e-News -04.May.2025, 9.30 PM) In the pale spring light of a post-election Britain, one name is being whispered with growing frequency in Westminster corridors: Mohammad Zia Yusuf. Until recently, he was the understated Chairman of the UK Reform Party—overshadowed by the bluster and bravado of Nigel Farage. Today, Zia Yusuf is being hailed by insiders as the man behind the party’s stunning performance in the recent local council elections.
In a political culture still dominated by the traditional duopoly of the Conservatives and Labour, the Reform Party’s leap—gaining scores of new councillors across England—has rattled the establishment. But beneath the Farage-led populist rhetoric and anti-immigration refrains lies a more sophisticated, if quiet, architect of this insurgency. That man is Zia Yusuf.
And in an ironic twist of modern British history, he is the British-born son of Sri Lankan Muslim immigrants.
Reform UK’s surge in the local elections is widely attributed to voter discontent with Sunak’s Conservatives and Starmer’s centrism. But the organisational machine, donor outreach, digital targeting and candidate selection process were not led by Farage himself. Insiders familiar with the campaign say it was Yusuf who “kept the ship afloat and moving” while Farage served as the symbolic figurehead.
“Farage is the horseman. But Zia Yusuf is the one who feeds, trains and stables the horse,” quips one senior Reform insider. “If Farage is the mouth, Yusuf is the mind.”
Unlike the firebrand Brexiteer, Yusuf operates without theatrics. Born in 1986 in Bellshill , Scotland to Sri Lankan parents—his father a cardiologist, his mother a teacher—he represents a different generation of immigrant Britain. He attended a grammar school before earning a place at the London School of Economics. Later, he earned an MBA from INSEAD and entered the world of high finance and entrepreneurship.
He made his fortune in the early 2000s when he co-founded Concierge, a luxury travel and fintech company that catered to the ultra-wealthy. In 2016, the firm was acquired by Capital One in a private deal reportedly worth over £233 million.
“He doesn’t do loud,” says a Reform Party aide. “He does smart. He’s the only one in the room who’s read the full policy paper.”
Zia Yusuf's story is, in many ways, the story of Britain itself—a former colonial subject whose descendants now sit at the centre of the British political map. His father, Dr. Hilmy Yusuf, emigrated from Colombo in the 1970s during a period of rising ethnic tensions and economic decline. He joined the NHS as a young medical professional, bringing with him the hopes of an educated Sri Lankan middle class, eager to build a new life in Britain.
That their son now chairs Britain’s most insurgent political party, and is tipped as a future Prime Minister by political bookmakers, is a testament to that dream.
Yet Yusuf’s relationship with his Sri Lankan roots is described as “quietly proud.” He has made personal donations to post-tsunami reconstruction efforts and is known to support Tamil-Sinhalese reconciliation initiatives through back channels. But he avoids public commentary on South Asian geopolitics.
“He is British, through and through. But he knows where he comes from,” says Dr. Naushad Ahamed, a retired Sri Lankan-born academic and long-time family friend. “And that balance—of rootedness and British identity—is his political strength.”
Rumours abound in Westminster that should Nigel Farage become disqualified from public office—whether due to his controversial financial dealings or potential future electoral defeat—Zia Yusuf is the most likely successor. Reform UK’s own internal polls show Yusuf outperforming Farage in key southern constituencies, especially among business-friendly middle-class voters disillusioned with the Conservatives.
And unlike Farage, whose populism often alienates minorities, Yusuf is a paradoxical unifier. A Muslim of Sri Lankan heritage, he speaks with a clipped Oxbridge accent, wears Savile Row suits, and dines with hedge fund managers as easily as he debates housing policy with regional councillors.
“Farage brings the noise, but Yusuf brings the credibility,” says political strategist Claire Handley. “If the Reform Party wants to become a real political force and not just a protest movement, Yusuf is their ticket to Downing Street.”
But is the British public ready for a Muslim Prime Minister of South Asian origin?
If recent history is any guide—Rishi Sunak, a Hindu of Punjabi Indian descent, currently occupies Number 10—the barriers are lower than they once were. And Yusuf, though a practicing Muslim, avoids identity politics.
When asked by a journalist last year whether he considered himself a “Muslim politician,” he replied: “No. I’m a British politician. My religion guides my ethics. But my politics is secular.”
Perhaps what most distinguishes Yusuf from his peers is his discipline. While Farage courts the headlines and exudes performative outrage over immigration or green taxes, Yusuf is a policy wonk. He is said to have quietly authored the Reform Party’s economic manifesto—emphasising tax simplification, SME incentives, and public sector reform.
“He talks about productivity statistics over lunch,” laughs one party volunteer. “You can’t fake that kind of nerd.”
In this way, Yusuf channels the technocratic energy of Emmanuel Macron or even the early Tony Blair—leaders who rose through substance rather than spectacle.
And yet, Yusuf remains deeply strategic. It was he who initiated the Reform Party’s digital canvassing platform, “Direct Democracy,” which helped them micro-target disaffected Tory voters with hyper-local messaging in recent council elections.
According to polling conducted by Survation, 1 in 4 Conservative voters under 45 are open to voting for Reform UK in the general election—largely due to their “modern image,” which, party aides claim, is Yusuf’s doing.
Yusuf is often seen standing just behind Farage at party events, rarely taking the microphone, rarely appearing on TV. That distance, however, is deliberate.
“Zia doesn’t want to be seen as a shadow or a sidekick. He’s building credibility in the long game,” says a senior political editor from The Spectator. “If the Farage era ends, the party needs continuity and class. Yusuf offers both.”
Yusuf’s inner circle say he is biding his time. He has rebuffed multiple requests to stand in upcoming by-elections, insisting he would prefer to contest a full parliamentary seat under more stable conditions.
“There is no rush,” he reportedly told colleagues in a closed-door meeting. “Our mission is bigger than one cycle.”
If Zia Yusuf ever does walk through the black door of No. 10 Downing Street, it will mark one of the most remarkable immigrant stories in British history. A child of Sri Lankan medical professionals, who rose through merit, enterprise, and acumen to the highest rungs of politics, could become a living embodiment of the multicultural promise of modern Britain.
For the Sri Lankan diaspora, it would be a moment of immense pride. Community leaders in Croydon and Harrow—where large populations of Sri Lankan Tamils and Muslims reside—have already begun informal campaigns celebrating Yusuf’s rise.
“We see him as one of ours,” says Mrs. Abida Razeen, a second-generation Sri Lankan Briton and local councillor. “Not because of his ethnicity alone, but because he represents a vision of integrity, intellect and national service.”
And while Yusuf has never pandered to ethnic lobbying or diasporic identity politics, his rise offers a quiet vindication for many Sri Lankans who left their homeland in search of better futures for their children.
As the general election looms, Zia Yusuf’s influence within the Reform Party is only set to grow. Whether he formally enters the Commons this year or waits until 2029, one thing is certain: the days of dismissing the Reform Party as a one-man Farage show are over.
Zia Yusuf has turned the Reform Party from a megaphone into a movement.
And as British voters search for competence in an age of political cynicism, they may just find an unexpected answer in the son of Sri Lankan immigrants—a soft-spoken, sharp-minded technocrat who may one day hold the keys to Number 10.
Time will tell. But as political winds shift and party loyalties crack, Zia Yusuf stands ready. Waiting in the wings, writing the policies, watching the polls.
He may not ride the horse.
But make no mistake—he feeds it.
-By A Special Correspondent |
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by (2025-05-04 16:10:38)
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