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History will judge Boris Johnson as one of the most damaging prime ministers in British history, Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has said.
Yusuf told the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast Johnson would not be welcome to join Reform UK. The Reform UK chairman criticised Johnson’s record on the Covid pandemic, immigration and public spending when he was prime minister between 2019 and 2022.
Yusuf said there was “nothing Conservative” about Johnson and branded the Tories an “extremely left-wing party” in government. The BBC has asked Johnson’s spokesperson for comment.
The party chairman spoke to the BBC’s Nick Robinson days after Reform UK topped a YouGov opinion poll for the first time, edging in front of Labour on 24% and the Tories on 21%.
Yusuf said if there was a general election tomorrow, the polling suggests Reform UK would win between 140 to 200 seats in the House of Commons. He claimed Reform UK would win up to 400 seats at the next general election, although there is no polling to back that up.
At a new conference this week, Yusuf said Reform UK had almost 200,000 members, which is far higher than the number declared by the Conservative Party.
The BBC has been told Boris Johnson had lunch with Reform UK’s main fundraiser Nick Candy, who is also an old friend, in Mayfair in late January.
But Yusuf told Nick Robinson he would not want the former PM to join Reform UK.
“History will judge Boris Johnson as one of the most damaging prime ministers in this country’s history,” he said. The increase in net migration during Johnson’s premiership was “a total betrayal of everybody who voted for Brexit, ” he added.
“He took public spending close to Soviet Union spending. “So there was nothing Conservative about him.” By contrast, Yusuf heaped praise on former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and said she would be welcome in Reform UK.
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