Zia Yusuf is a man of remarkable and rare gifts. His parents are immigrants from Sri Lanka who worked in the NHS. Yusuf himself has had a hugely successful business career, becoming an executive director at Goldman Sachs and then founding a luxury concierge company, Velocity Black, which was sold for a reported £233 million. 

Basic common courtesy appears to Yusuf to be a sign of depravity – a stance which he might be wealthy enough to pull-off in his private life, but which marks him down as a liability in public life

Basic common courtesy appears to Yusuf to be a sign of depravity – a stance which he might be wealthy enough to pull-off in his private life, but which marks him down as a liability in public life

But Yusuf is also the latest example of the truism that business success is no indicator of political acumen, let alone political success. Having been chair of Reform for 11 months, he is now the party’s home affairs spokesman. It sometimes seems as if every time he opens his mouth it is an embarrassment either for Yusuf or Reform. 

On Monday, Yusuf posted on X that the Conservative former defence secretary Ben Wallace was a ‘traitor to Britain’ He then added a poll asking if Wallace should be prosecuted for treason. Some traitor: Wallace served in the Scots Guards in Northern........

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