Boris Johnson will go down as “one of the most damaging prime ministers in this country’s history”, the Reform UK chair has insisted.
Zia Yusuf said the increase in net migration during Johnson’s tenure in 10 Downing Street was “a total betrayal of everybody who voted for Brexit”, as he ruled out the prospect of the former prime minister ever joining Reform.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking podcast, Yusuf said there is “nothing Conservative” about Johnson and argued the Tories were “extremely left-wing” in government.
He added: “He took public spending close to Soviet Union spending. So there was nothing Conservative about him.”
By contrast, Yusuf said he would welcome the defection of former home secretary Suella Braverman, whom he revealed he has held several meetings with.
The Reform chair said he has a “huge amount of respect” for Braverman, the Conservative MP for Fareham and Waterlooville.
Asked if she would be a good Reform member, Yusuf responded: “If Suella wanted to join Reform UK? Yeah, absolutely.”
Yusuf praised Braverman’s views on migration and said she had been “excommunicated” and made a “pariah” by the Conservative Party despite them.
Yusuf also claimed Reform, which now has over 200,000 members, could win up to 400 seats at the next general election, and that if there was a general election tomorrow, it would win between 140 to 200 seats.
Reform returned five MPs in July’s general election but came second in 98 constituencies. In a recent YouGov poll, Reform UK came top with 25 per cent support, compared with Labour on 24 per cent and the Conservatives with 21 per cent.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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