Zia Yusuf: Muslim mega-donor who has just become the new seat of Reformation

Call to protect so-called “British values”. Claimed he was “borderline depressed” when Nigel Farage said he was not standing for the election. He accused the Labor Party of being “racially obsessed” and inciting “violent hooliganism” taking place in the UK.

These are just some of the headlines that have swirled around Zia Yusuf in the past few weeks. He is a multi-millionaire tech entrepreneur and Reform mega-donor who just replaced Richard Tice as the party’s new chairman.

Scottish-born Yusuf, 37, a “British Muslim patriot”, whose parents came to the UK from Sri Lanka in the 1980s, may seem like an unlikely spokesman for a party that puts border control at the forefront of its agenda, but commentators say the appointment is hardly a surprise.

The Goldman Sachs alumnus, who made an estimated £31m from the sale of luxury concierge app Velocity Black last year, has long spoken publicly of his admiration for Farage and was the party’s biggest donor during this summer’s general election campaign. “We’ve lost control of our borders. That’s my view. And I think it’s an objective statement,” he recently told the BBC, adding that the UK needs “a grown-up discussion about immigration without name-calling.”

That his appointment comes amid a wave of unrest across the country only adds fuel to those who accuse him and his party of being racist and spreading Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric. “(We) feel strongly that we must protect British values ​​and put British people first of all religions and beliefs,” Yusuf replied firmly.

From being raised in a public school to the reason his friends stopped inviting him to parties, that’s how Yusuf became Farage’s right-hand man.

Yusuf describes himself as a British Muslim patriot – “which I believe is the majority of Muslims in Britain,” he said recently. His parents came to the UK from Sri Lanka in the 1980s and worked in the NHS: his father was a paediatrician; his mother is a nurse. He was born in Bellshill, a village outside Aberdeen in Scotland, and the family later moved to the south of England, with Yusuf winning a 50 per cent scholarship to attend the elite fee-paying school, Hampton, in west London before going on to study international relations at LSE.

He remembers the night he and his friends watched Barack Obama win the US presidential election in 2008. “It was a very important moment in history,” he says, looking back. “I had a lot of hope at the time.” After university, he became a rising star at investment bank Goldman Sachs in London, rising to the position of director until 2014.

Yusuf credits his teenage experiences as inspiration for Velocity Black, a luxury concierge service he founded in 2014 for London’s rich and successful.

He was 13 years old and his father came into his room and asked him if he wanted to go to Disney World. Joseph always wanted to go to Disney in Paris, but his father said, “We’re not going there, we’re going to the real thing in Florida!”

The trip was the result of years of saving and saving by his parents and young Yusuf was so excited that he barely slept for a month. “It’s something to look forward to,” he told an interviewer in 2018, when he was 32 and making headlines as a young star CEO. “That’s what we’re trying to provide at Velocity. It’s to make you feel like a kid again.”

Yusuf founded the company with his old school friend Alex Macdonald, after leaving a high-paying job in the City. He had been a director at Goldman, and was on his way to becoming a partner, but cited the breakdown of one of his mentors as something of a turning point. “This is a man who has been with the company for 24 years and (global chief) Lloyd Blankfein called him to say that he has become a partner,” Yusuf told the Standard in 2018. crying. He told me: ‘I immediately realized that it was pointless, the missed parent’s evening, all the sacrifices I made’.

Velocity Black is designed to be a one-stop app allowing the ultra-rich to book luxe experiences over the phone, from restaurant slots to renting fighter jets or swimming with orca whales in Norway. Membership to the invitation-only concierge costs £2,400 per year, with an average transaction of $1,800 and an average member making 42 bookings per year. It quickly became a business success story, with thousands of members and clients including the likes of Rita Ora and Ellie Goulding. Yusuf is often pictured with A-list clients – a photo taken three years after founding the company shows him posing with Lottie Moss in Mykonos – but he told the Standard the following year that he had no time for dates or holidays due to his work commitments.

Six years ago, he admitted that he was working so hard that his friends refused to invite him to parties. “I’m single, I think my personality might have something to do with it,” he told the Standard in 2018. “Do I get time to date? No, not really. I come from a traditional Asian background and when I go home my mother asks me when I’m going to get married .

He told the same reporter that he never took a vacation. “For the past three years, I haven’t been on vacation. I’ve tried, when I go to the beach I only think about this business.

The trajectory of Yusuf’s political career has become steep. He voted Conservative for most of his adult life, recently asked if he would even consider canceling direct debit, but said he had finally decided that Rishi Sunak could not “govern with confidence”, and that the country needed “bold change” offered by Nigel Farage, the man who had met ten years earlier at a cocktail party hosted by former UKIP treasurer Stuart Wheeler. They reportedly kept in touch ever since.

His first public foray into politics began in June – just a year after he and Macdonald sold their company for a reported £235m, netting Yusuf around £31m – when Farage decided to become MP for Clacton-on-Sea.

Yusuf, who claimed he was “borderline depressed” when the Reform leader initially said he would not participate in the election, was delighted, donating a six-figure sum to the party and starting interviews on the likes of GB. News. The speech on restoring British values ​​at the Reform rally in Birmingham at the end of June attracted particular attention, with commentators calling everyone from Farage’s apprentice to the future leader of the party – and certainly a threat to the Conservatives.

“He needs to scare the Tories,” an insider said. “Now, it’s hard to see the party without Nigel. You add a dynamic young businessman who has time on his hands, af*** tons of money and the ability to communicate with the public, and you have a problem.

He was announced as Tice’s successor as party leader last month, to a mixed response. “I voted for Reform to get England back to England, not to be led by Muslims. I will resign my membership tomorrow,” said user X. “I personally don’t buy the ‘good Muslim’ line. If they believe in the Koran , and still be the chairman in the next election, I will not vote for Reform again,” wrote another. Others have been more supportive, saying they really agree with the comments in Labor spreading division between the British people, and those who are devoted to the country.

Yusuf himself said that he wanted to “professionalize” the Reform party. He has blamed Labor for “igniting” unrest across the country this time, and returned to accusations that high education and career posts have become out of touch with ordinary people. He claims his parents work in the NHS and having a pet husky helps him engage with people from “all over the community”.

He also denied comments accusing him of spreading “horrific, racist and hateful misinformation rhetoric”, saying he believed Britain had lost control of its borders as an “objective statement”.

“This is the idea that when we talk about English values, only certain races can subscribe to that value, I think it is completely wrong,” he said. “I hope people can see that. I’m proof that’s not the case. Also, I’m sure that many immigrants in this country are patriots and they care a lot about this country.

Will he be a member of parliament of his great country? “I’m really open,” he said recently. “This is a sincere comment. I will serve in whatever capacity Nigel asks of me.

First, he focused on helping Farage become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom. “This is just the beginning,” he said. “The important work of professionalizing the party, building the national infrastructure and continuing to increase membership has begun.”