Zia Yusuf's comments put him at odds with Suella Braverman.Zia Yusuf has insisted non-white sports stars like Ashley Cole and Bukayo Saka are definitely English in an apparent split with Suella Braverman.
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman said the suggestion that they are not “is an alien concept to me”.
He was responding to comments by Braverman in which she insisted she cannot be English, despite being born and brought up in England.
The former Tory home secretary, who is now Reform’s education spokesperson, insisted that Englishness is “an ethnicity” and therefore she does not qualify.
Asked on Sky News about Braverman’s remarks, Yusuf said: “Well, she’s entitled to her view. I’m a Chelsea fan and in my view Ashley Cole is the best English fullback in history, and I won’t take any other position.
“So in my view, Ashley Cole is English. The argument that he’s not English doesn’t hold water with me.”
Presenter Sophy Ridge asked Yusuf: “If you’re getting into an argument about whether Ashley Cole or Bukayo Saka or Jude Bellingham are English, have you basically lost the argument?”
He replied: “I can only talk about my views on these matters. And I do think it is important that we listen to people who are worried about some of the demographics in this country. I think that there are some legitimate arguments that they can make about that.
“But I will also say, every single person that you just mentioned there, whether it’s Saka, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Nasser Hussain, who I grew up watching when I went to the cricket, the idea that those people aren’t English, is an alien concept to me.
“I would respectfully disagree with people, who make the opposite argument.”
At the Tory conference last week, party leader Kemi Badenoch also hit out at Braverman.
She said: “I don’t want to explain to my son, when we’re watching our brilliant England team play football, that some people don’t think our Black players are English.
“I remember back in the day when Ian Wright and John Barnes were playing – nobody was questioning whether they were English. We certainly didn’t have sitting MPs questioning whether they were English.
“We must not let these people take us backwards. That is not the country we are. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but I am Black. I am British. I’m proud of my country, I’m proud of our history.”
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