Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of policy, appeared on last night’s Question Time immigration special, and he came away the outstanding winner – so long as success is measured in booing. Because he got booed. A lot.
Perhaps the people of Dover have had enough of their local services being run into the ground by the notoriously inept Reform County Council that’s currently festering in the Town Hall on Maidstone High Street.
But even so, it seemed that Yusuf was determined to put the boot into the Kentish audience.
When a life-long GP asked Yusuf whether it was Reform policy to send immigrants back, even if they have worked for 40 years in a care home, Yusuf responded, tartly, “If you had paid attention to what we were announcing you would not have that view.”
The breathtaking rudeness of this response drew gasps of disbelief from the audience. And boos. Lots of them. Yusuf grinned with all the warmth of a man passing something painful in hospital.
When asked to sum up his views on immigration, Yusuf tried to put the audience in its place once more. “These arguments have already concluded nationally,” the Reform man told the audience, which had on several occasions had the cheek to disagree with his views. “Immigration is the number one salience issue by which people vote.”
One problem – it isn’t. At last year’s general election, YouGov found the most important issues for voters were, in order: the cost of living; health; the economy in general; and then immigration and asylum. So not the number one issue. Fourth.
“The majority of people in this country support mass deportation,” said Yusuf, adding dismissively, “despite this particular audience’s views.” The crowd gasped once more at this show of disdain. Cue more booing. Again, Yusuf’s remarks were not only rude, they also happened to be complete balls. A majority of Brits do not support mass deportation.
“Over 170,000 people have arrived in this country illegally since 2018,” said Yusuf at one point. “That is more people than arrived on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.”
D Day was famously the moment when a series of small craft braved the waters of the English channel to make a perilous crossing. With Farage’s reichy schoolboy tendencies currently coming back to bite him, it’s perhaps not such a good idea to mix up illegal boat crossings with D Day.
Farage’s long-held view that we need to “stop the boats” inevitably raises the question: well, would he have wanted to “stop the boats” on D Day too? Recent statements by classmates from Farage’s schooldays recall him approaching Jewish contemporaries and telling them “Hitler was right”, which makes the answer at the very least uncertain.
Eye-watering rudeness, a wall of booing and an unfortunate Nazi reference – all in all, a highly successful night out for Mr Yusuf!
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