Yusuf, Reform UK\u2019s home affairs spokesperson, posted on X last week: \u201cThe frontrunner being foisted on the people of Holborn by Labour to replace the former prime minister Keir Starmer in our parliament was born in Somalia. Do you understand what\u2019s happening?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Sagal](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/445.jpg\")
Sagal Abdi-Wali. Photograph: Camden Labour<\/p>\n
The post, which has been viewed 8m times, drew sharp criticism from several senior Reform UK figures during the party\u2019s conference in Birmingham at the weekend. Appearing on Sky News on Sunday, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, also condemned Yusuf\u2019s post as \u201cstraightforward racism\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked by the presenter, Jon Sopel, for his thoughts on the message, Reynolds said: \u201cPretty straightforward racism, isn\u2019t it? There\u2019s a potential candidate referenced there; spent decades in this country, huge contribution to her local community, so I think that speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Sopel asked whether it was \u201cplain racism\u201d, Reynolds replied: \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yusuf has drawn significant criticism for his inflammatory comments on X in recent months, including from top Reform UK figures. Nadine Dorries, the former Conservative minister who defected to Reform UK last year, described the post about Abdi-Wali as \u201cnasty\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a nasty tweet. Zia Yusuf is a brilliant man, and he\u2019s a genius actually, and he\u2019s an incredible communicator. I wish he closed down his Twitter account,\u201d she told Times Radio.<\/p>\n
Dorries and Yusuf during a panel discussion at Reform\u2019s conference in Birmingham on Saturday. Photograph: Will Colebourne\/PA<\/p>\n
Laila Cunningham, Reform\u2019s candidate for mayor of London and the daughter of immigrants from Egypt, told the Standard: \u201cI don\u2019t know what he meant by that comment. I read it a few times.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t understand what he meant by that comment. Of course, you know, that woman is British. She\u2019s the leader of Camden council. I didn\u2019t understand what he meant by that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reform UK has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n
Abdi-Wali arrived in Camden as a child refugee from Somalia. She has worked for more than a decade as a volunteer and trustee for local charities and is a governor of two schools in the borough, according to Labour.<\/p>\n
She was first elected as a councillor in 2022 and became the leader of the council in May, when she said: \u201cCamden has been my home for 35 years. It is the place that gave my family sanctuary, that welcomed us, and that has shaped so much of who I am, what I stand for and what inspired my commitment to public service and to working for the community that welcomed us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labour is expected to announce its candidate for the Holborn and St Pancras byelection by Wednesday. It faces a battle against the Green party to retain the seat as Zack Polanski, its leader in England and Wales, is expected to be confirmed as its candidate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labour has accused Reform\u2019s Zia Yusuf of \u201cstraightforward racism\u201d after he suggested the party\u2019s frontrunner to replace Keir…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1189483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-1189482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-northern-ireland","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117223679031852162","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1189483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}