Reform's Zia Yusuf hits back at Kemi Badenoch over 'grievance' party jibe

By CHRISTIAN CALGIE, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE Published: 01:52, 7 August 2026 | Updated: 01:58, 7 August 2026 Zia Yusuf hit back at Kemi Badenoch yesterday after the Tory leader branded Reform UK as 'woke' and a 'grievance' party. Mrs Badenoch had ruled out any pact with Nigel Farage and said: 'Reform are a woke party. It's all moaning and whinging and not proper solutions.' But Mr Yusuf fired back: 'I don't think Kemi's had the best few days, and she's obviously lashed out at Reform and started calling us names' – a reference to this week's row over a convicted former neo–Nazi standing as a Tory candidate. 'She said we're a party that has grievances. I would agree with that. We do have a grievance.  We have a grievance with the fact they [the Tories] spent 14 years lying to the British public. 'They said they'd reduce legal immigration down to the tens of thousands, [but] shipped in one million people gross, built 400 prison places net to cope with that – and then they have the gall to go on telly with victims of serious crime and complain about early release when they released tens of thousands of people early, including people who committed serious crime.' Mr Yusuf criticised Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, who this week went out to the Channel to document migrant crossings.  Kemi Badenoch ruled out a coalition with Reform UK, labelling them a 'woke' and 'grievance' party that relies on victim narratives, complaining, and whinging rather than providing real solutions Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf dismissed Badenoch's comments as an angry reaction to recent Tory scandals, specifically referencing a row over a former neo-Nazi standing as a Conservative candidate He said: 'There's a term in criminal psychology for people who go back to the scene of the crime in some sort of odd display of narcissism.' On Monday Reform leader Mr Farage ruled out a pact with the Tories. Mrs Badenoch had told the Political Currency podcast, hosted by Ed Balls and George Osborne: 'When I talk about woke, I talk about people who [think] it's all grievance. It's victim narratives, 'People are doing this to us'.   Oppressor narratives, "This is the oppressor class". And on the Left, it's, you know, "whites are the oppressors", or "men are the oppressors".'