Lee Anderson Advises Critics To Scroll Past Zia Yusuf’s Posts

Lee Anderson has advised critics to “scroll by” Zia Yusuf’s social media posts amid heightened scrutiny over Reform UK.

Yusuf, the party’s home affairs spokesperson, attracted backlash earlier this month when he called former defence secretary Ben Wallace a “traitor” to Britain.

Before he was suspended by Reform, party member Tim Montgomerie claimed Yusuf “consistently freelanced on Twitter” and “behaves like a child”.

Asked about the criticism surrounding Yusuf at a press conference, Reform’s chief whip Anderson defended his colleague.

He said: “I think Zia is probably one of our best communicators in Reform UK, very popular with the membership and a little bit of advice to anybody: If you don’t like what Zia says, then just scroll by. It’s really simple.”

He added: “If you don’t like what any of us have to say on social media, you don’t have to follow us. You don’t have to read our comments. Just scroll on by and go and listen to somebody else.”

Deputy leader Richard Tice also shrugged off the scrutiny around Yusuf, insisting the unelected politician is “passionate”.

He told reporters: “We’re all passionate; Zia is passionate.

“And we all, frankly, are furious at how the previous Conservative government let us all down because they said they were going to reduce immigration numbers. They didn’t. They opened the doors, they allowed the ‘Boriswave’.

“So, Zia is on great form. We’re on great form. We’re looking forward to conference. And as I tweeted out a couple of days ago, I think the summer heat may have got to a few journalists.”

Yusuf himself later took issue with reporters at the right-wing outlet Guido Fawkes after the site reported that Anderson had told people to scroll past his social media posts.

He wrote on X: “The Tory Labour establishment is terrified of my social media platform.

“My accounts do over 200 million organic views a month. Which is why establishment media is hell bent on trying to censor me.”

He added: “Remember, the things the establishment media write about Reform are not only lies, they are the *opposite* of the truth.”

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