‘Looks like he couldn’t care less’: Christopher Hope on the timing of Zia Yusuf’s bombshell Reform UK exit

"If you're going to quit as chairman, you do it the day after people are voting in a major test of your attractiveness to the polling public," Hope said.

He warned that Yusuf's exit announcement could have influenced voters "having their tea" and potentially affected turnout in what was expected to be a tight contest.

Yusuf announced his resignation on social media, stating: "I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time."

The Muslim businessman had served as chairman for 11 months, during which he claimed to have taken the party "from 14 to 30 per cent", quadrupled its membership and delivered "historic electoral results".

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His departure followed a row with Reform's newest MP Sarah Pochin, whom he called "dumb" after she challenged Sir Keir Starmer about the legality of women wearing the burqa during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

The comment sparked fury amongst party activists, many of whom had already been critical of Yusuf for several months.

The Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election saw polls close at 21:00 GMT, with the SNP hoping to retain the seat following Christina McKelvie's death.

Whilst the SNP were expected to narrowly hold the constituency by around a thousand votes, Reform UK mounted a significant challenge during the campaign.

The party, which "barely existed in Scotland until a few months ago" according to reports, was thought to have a strong chance of finishing second ahead of Labour.

First Minister John Swinney described it as a "two-horse race" between his party and Reform, urging voters to "stop Farage" by backing the SNP.

Hope highlighted the potential damage to Reform's electoral prospects, noting how close the recent Runcorn and Helsby by-election had been with "just five votes" deciding the outcome.

"If what Yusuf did today put people off, that's disappointing," Hope observed, whilst acknowledging Farage's view that Yusuf had "done so much for that party" as its biggest single donor with £250,000 in contributions.

Despite the awkward timing, Farage responded diplomatically when asked about the resignation on ITV News, saying: "Thank you for coming in, for being so loyal to me and for enabling me to travel around the country campaigning whilst you were there in London."