“Masters of the dark arts” are doing all they can to halt Nigel Farage and Reform UK’s surge to power, according to the party’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) boss Zia Yusuf.
Mr Yusuf was speaking on GB News about his party leader’s plea for more Reform representation in the House of Lords.
While stressing the party’s hardline stance against the unelected chamber, the former Reform Chairman told Martin Daubney it should still have a delegation.
“It’s deeply sinister”, he said on the People’s Channel.
Reform's Zia Yusuf spoke on GB News about what he thinks is a concerted effort to keep Reform UK out of the picture
|PA / GB NEWS
“We know the Tories are the masters of the dark arts and they have been trying this against us but it’s not going to work.
“We are simply not going to be terrorised out of this mission.”
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Speaking about the Lords, he said: “We have got to play the game as it is right now, we have a party that is already at a democratic deficit in the House of Commons.
“We’re polling routinely now at north of 33 per cent, a third of the country support us and yet we have four MPs. That’s already a massive democratic deficit.
Zia Yusuf spoke on GB News with Martin Daubney and Christopher Hope
|GB NEWS
“How many Lords do we have? None. All we ask is for a few so the voices of the British people are heard.
“It’s clear. The Lords routinely block the will of the people. It’s become a patronage and loyalty scheme for donors to the Tories and Labour.”
GB News’s Political Editor Christopher Hope pushed back, saying the Lords “literally isn’t” a rubber-stamping chamber for the two main parties as it constitutionally cannot be.
“They can’t block the will of the people. The manifesto position is it gets through the Lords whether it looks like it or not.”
Christopher Hope hit back at some of the claims Zia Yusuf was making about the House of Lords
|GB NEWS
“They impede”, said Mr Yusuf.
“And time is precious. If we’re talking about what we need to do in our first 100 days, some guy who is posting on social media with AK-47s and announcing support for the Houthi rebels, coming soon to a migrant hotel near you, to get these people deported we need rapid legislation.”
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Farage wrote: "My party received over 4.1 million votes at the general election in July 2024 [and] have since won a large number of seats in local government, led in the national opinion polls for many months and won the only by-election of this parliament.”
Defence Secretary John Healey has strongly rejected Mr Farage's demands, questioning the Reform UK leader's consistency on the issue.
Healey characterised the request as an attempt by Mr Farage to install his Mr “cronies" in the upper chamber, despite his past opposition to the institution's existence.
Reform UK currently holds four MPs and controls ten councils, yet lacks any representation in the upper chamber.
The Prime Minister holds exclusive authority over political appointments to the House of Lords, with nominations requiring approval before formal confirmation by the King.
Whilst no constitutional requirement exists for prime ministers to elevate opposition figures, political convention typically sees opposition leaders invited to suggest candidates for peerages. Downing Street has not yet responded to Mr Farage's request.