Reform UK chair was member of Conservatives until last week

Zia Yusuf told a Reform rally in July that the Tories had ‘lost control of our borders’. Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters

The chair of Reform UK, Zia Yusuf, was a member of the Conservatives until last week when party officials were approached by the Guardian.

Richard Fuller, the Conservative party chair, emailed Yusuf to tell him his membership had been revoked last Friday afternoon, after the Guardian asked the party whether it was still active.