Well, they were told that increased public scrutiny would present them with a few challenges. After riding the crest of a wave in the last few months, reality seems to be hitting Reform hard – and a difficult week appears to be getting worse for the party.
Reform poll lead drops in five separate surveys
According to surveys from Survation and More In Common, Reform have seen their lead in the polls drop by three percentage points. Although they still maintain pole position, the data suggests that some members of the public are having second thoughts about backing Farage and his colleagues.
Though much more modest, polls from BMG, YouGov, and Find Out Now also note a slight decline in support for Reform at the start of June. Whether this trend will last or not remains to be seen – but it certainly caps a chaotic week for the political upstarts.
The departure of Zia Yusuf as chairman has generated a slew of negative headlines, leading to more party infighting. The ‘DOGE’ team launched in Kent on Monday had lost two members by Friday. Their council leadership has come under-fire, and they also lost the Hamilton by-election to Labour.
ALSO READ: Zia Yusuf resigns as Reform UK chairman
DOGE team cuts itself by 40% as two members quit
Two members of the five-person team have now withdrawn from the DOGE department, which launched at Kent County Council (KCC). Among the figures posing for photos were Zia Yusuf and Nathaniel Fried – but both men have now quit the team, leaving them with a 40% deficit in personnel.
Yusuf announced his departure as Party Chairperson on Thursday, taking to social media to share his belief that getting the right-leaning organisation into government was ‘no longer a good use of his time’. He made his decision just hours after finding himself at the centre of more Reform infighting.
Fried, meanwhile, also decided to leave Team DOGE, saying that it would only be right to depart alongside Yusuf after he was the one who brought him into the fold. The 28-year-old businessman even quipped that Liz Truss had ‘lasted longer than him’. Indeed, the lettuce remains clear.
It’s understood that chief cheerleader of Brexit, Aaron Banks, will now lead the department going forward. Last month, he failed in his bid to become Mayor of the West of England. But Banks believes he will do a better job than Yusuf, as he has a ‘broader depth’ of business experience.