Britain has been incredibly kind to me and my family...but its people are now fed up with the two old parties

THE IDEA of Nigel Farage walking T into Downing Street as Prime Minister may horrify those Britons who are still traumatised by Brexit, but Zia Yusuf is working night and day to make this democratic revolution a reality.

- By David Williamson

This self-made millionaire talks with an entrepreneur's energy of how Britain can be "turned around" to become "one of the greatest countries in the world again".

His parents came to the UK from Sri Lanka in the 1980s and found jobs in the NHS: his father as a paediatrician, his mother as a nurse.

Born in the North Lanarkshire town of Bellshill, Mr Yusuf, 38, won a place at the London School of Economics and worked for Goldman Sachs before making a fortune by founding luxury concierge service Velocity Black.

This is an immigration success story and he now wants to rescue the country he loves from decline at a time when he says the economy is "circling the drain".

When Mr Farage, top left with Mr Yusuf, made his shock return to full-time politics ahead of the summer election, Mr Yusuf says he saw a "small window of opportunity for something very special to happen".

Speaking in Reform UK's new base in Millbank Tower - the same skyscraper overlooking the Thames where Alastair Campbell plotted New Labour's 1997 election triumph he explains why he took on the challenge of chairing the start-up party.

"The reason why I do this," he says, "and I do it as a volunteer and I do it with all my time - is because this country has been incredibly kind to me, to my family." A key challenge is convincing the nation Reform "could actually win".

The party won 14% of the vote with "virtually no resources", he argues. A recent "poll of polls" put Reform in first place on 27%, and Mr Yusuf insists Mr Farage can become PM if the party secures the support of 31% of voters. Labour achieved its landslide with just 34%.

Mr Yusuf claims the country is disgusted with the "two old parties" and says voters are "getting soaked in tax" but suffering "worse and worse public services".

He sees Labour's recent attacks on Reform as solid proof that Sir Keir Starmer regards the party as the "real Opposition".