YouSaid · the spoken record

Zia Yusuf

lines on the record: 69
first: 2025-02-07
most recent: 2025-02-07
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yeah, well, I go to quite a lot of England games, but when Sri Lanka come here, I go, that's the thing because I spoke in England in terms of the Tebit test. I support England. My father supports Sri Lanka.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Quite away from the Soviet Union level. Well, it depends on how you calculated, but it was close to Soviet Union levels at one point during his leadership”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sorry, yes, in the 2010 election. But the main reason, you remember Take Back Control, right? And so people wanted secure borders. And what did Boris Johnson do? He threw open our borders and we had enormous numbers of people coming here from non-EU countries. And it wasn't to come here and work and contribute in the main. And the data point on this that is so damaging to Boris's record is that over that six-year period, you had 3.1 million people arrive in net migration from non-EU countries, of which just 16%, 16% arrived on work visas. So it was a total betrayal of everybody who actually voted for Brexit. He took public spending up towards close to Soviet Union levels. So there was nothing conservative about him.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Technically, got it done, that's true, and it was because of the magnanimous move by Nigel to stand down our candidates that that happened. But having did that.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've never met Boris Johnson, so I can't comment on him personally or anything like that. I can just, I'm a big believer you've got to judge executives on outcomes. And that's why if you'll talk about a Tory reform merger, no, that's not uniting the right. The Tories are an extremely left-wing party. If you actually look at how they governed, if you look at Boris Johnson, number one, the catastrophe of the COVID response in every possible way.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No. I think Boris Johnson will end up. I think history will judge Boris Johnson as one of the most damaging prime ministers in this country's history”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think I can go on my interactions with her and actually having followed her positions over a number of years as opposed to one specific speech. I remember she wrote an op-ed in the Telegraph. And this was an important moment for me if somebody wasn't in politics at the time where she talked about, and I still remember that she's talked about the perception of two-tiered policing. She used the word perception. She prefaced it with that. She attenuated the language. And despite that, number one, it was obvious at the time, now it's incredibly obvious to a lot of people in this country. And what happened? She was fired from the cabinet, excommunicated, and has basically remained a pariah and persona non grat in the Conservative Party ever since. And I think she was early on this, and I think she stood up for what she believes in, which I respect.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I have a huge amount of respect for Suella because she says things that she believes. She's been incredibly consistent. She hasn't flip-flopped or sailed with the wind, like frankly many people, prominent figures in the Conservative Party. I remember I was still...”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That we feel like we cannot say, because if we do, we're going to get labeled as we're going to get called names and there's going to be social consequences for us. I also hear from legal migrants, people like my parents, who say, thank you for what you're saying and what you're doing because it is as abominable to them as it is for everybody else. They're as affronted as anybody by the people coming here illegally and going to the front of the queue for hotel accommodation.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now it's by talking to people across the country. You know, we've done events. I don't believe any political party is doing the number and the size of the events that we're doing at the moment. So we do a lot of that and we talk to our members and our supporters. I still see all of the inbound emails that come through on our website. And you see some really moving stuff. Obviously, we get incredible amounts of mail as well. But the most important thing is actually talking to people, understanding what their concerns are. And you hear across the board that obviously everyone has their own journey and their individual stories. But the things that I hear a lot, and maybe it's because of my background, perhaps I hear it more than others, but the first thing I hear is from people saying, thank you for saying, so I hear a lot from people who are, let's say, number one white people in this country, families go back here generations and say, thank you for saying things that we believe.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, no, I actually disagree with that. The vast majority of my time was spent in the office on the trading floor. I mean, my work was basically helping research companies, advising clients on those companies. I actually did very little entertaining, actually, compared to most people on the desk. But in terms of how we do it now.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“First of all, your characterization of me there. I mean, look, my first job, Nick, was working at a Moss pharmacy in Hampton. And I still remember it. I earned minimum wage, which from memory was somewhere in the region of £3.15 an hour. And I worked on Saturdays. And I still remember seeing that first pay slip come through. It was hard work because it was right on it. It was in an area where you would have some very interesting people come in and try to buy pharmaceuticals over the counter, some of which you could sell them, some of which you couldn't. But I really enjoyed it. And I think that...”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Look, what Nigel does is give all of his working hours his incredible energy to helping reform win the next general election. He has made enormous sacrifices over the decades. He has to have a significant security detail because he also has to make sacrifices in terms of security as well. I will tell you, the energy he has, the love he has for this country is something to behold. And as I said, success should be celebrated and this country would do well and I think would be better off if”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm really clear about this, and I think this is important culturally for the UK when you talk about incentives and how people grow up in this country. Success should be celebrated. Success should be rewarded. Nigel, I will show you makes huge financial sacrifices in order to do the job that he does. He could earn much, much more money if he wanted to do manifold more times.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think his partner lives in Dubai. Listen, here's the fundamental point, Nick. This country should, it would be much better off if it had political leaders and members of parliament who understood how the world works, understand how systems work, how incentives work. I'm self-made, Nigel is self-made. And so actually Nigel's an unbelievably productive member of society. Just to correct you, he's certainly by no means the wealthiest member of parliament. Fair enough. There are members of parliament famously worth hundreds of millions of pounds and not necessarily self-made. But here's the fundamental point, Nick. Being successful is a good thing.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The reality is Visits did Iowa's partner. I speak to Richard almost every single day. Richard spends the vast majority of his working day in Parliament. He regularly goes.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, first of all, don't read everything you read in the newspapers. Richard's not spreading his time between the UK and Dubai.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That twice. No, no, no, no. I've given 200,000. And by the way, that's in the context of the party having raised millions in the grand scheme of things. I'm a pretty small donor in terms of percentage terms.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I am certainly know Elon Musk. I think Elon Musk is singular. I've tried to learn as much as I can about him. One thing about Elon is that he, as I said, he takes on unbelievably difficult challenges. As an entrepreneur, he has a deep understanding of the ground truths of what's going on. And that's why he's actually the ideal person to do the whole doge, you know, the Department of Governmental Efficiency. Trump has a mandate to do.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Within the play by the rules at hand, and we have to win the next general election. We'll make no apologies for us wanting to win the next general election and playing by the rules. So if you take that view, and again, I have some sympathy for it. I understand where that view comes from, then let's make sure the rules are fair for everybody. Reform should not be held to a different standard to the other.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Buying an election in a different country. They've changed the rules for everybody because Labour have taken millions of pounds from people who are based abroad, for example, and they've done it through companies.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If Elon Musk, which who knows if you will or you won't, but if he was to make a donation and it was within the rules and it helped us win, then why not? But I will say this too.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I can understand those concerns, and I would say, number one, we're going to play by the rules. At reform, we're not a pressure group. We're here to win. We need to win. Nigel needs to be the prime minister. We need 350 to 400 incredible reform MPs to transform the country.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, Elon, I've never met Elon. I'm a huge admirer of his, mainly because I'm a tech entrepreneur. And if you're a tech entrepreneur, I think he's the greatest entrepreneur of all time, actually by some distance, not just because obviously he's extraordinarily wealthy, but the scale and the type of the challenges he's taken on building an electric car and manufacturing one that was viable and people loved, building the charging ecosystem, Neuralink and then putting reusable rockets, doing that at the same time. As someone who's raised venture capital, gone out and tried to be and been on entrepreneur, I can tell you I have a pretty good understanding of how ridiculously incredible those achievements are.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Saying exactly the same thing. I think all of those things were absolutely pivotal to President Trump winning, number one. And then you may have seen, you will have seen that signing ceremony is throwing his pen into the crowd. Now look, we don't have executive orders, but I'll tell you, we are working really hard behind the scenes to ensure that when Nigel's the Prime Minister, first of all, we need to make sure he's got a sizable majority so he can get the things done that are important, but that we can get done in the first 30 days, a large part of what the country will need. And it will be, it will be absolutely those things you just mentioned.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And did you mean? The energy looks, there were senators and congressmen, and Pete Hegset, who was the incoming Defense Secretary. And that was a really fascinating and quite... America didn't go to war on a voluntary basis anywhere. Far fewer people were killed as a result of American bombs than, for example, happened under Obama, who obviously used drones a lot. People seem to forget these things. Peace through strength works. And he said, while war will always be the very last resort, when American troops have to fight, they will fight to win. And it's that spirit of saying, we're going to stand up for the interests of our people. And then look at how much he got done. I mean, I tweeted out the other day, President Trump, whether you agree with what he's doing or not, he came to power with a mandate.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was in Washington because they scaled back the size of the audience. I wasn't in the actual room, unfortunately. You were in town for the moment. I would have been there were it not for that.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, the first thing I would say is you can admire somebody and even consider somebody a friend, not that I'm friends with President Trump, but for the purposes of this point, even somebody you're close friends with, you're not going to agree on everything. So that's the first point. Reform and Nigel are not spokespeople for the White House. But I will say this, what a thing it was to see a political leader firstly come back from where he came back from with all of those indictments and all of those things, attempts on his life at least two, possibly three, one within a whisker, obviously, of ending his life. And to come back and win, number one, I mean, that is just something that is to be admired.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That he was in favour of people paying to see the doctor. Sure, but now he is number one the leader of reform, number two, he is the bookmaker's favorite to be the next prime minister. And he could not have been clear about what our policy position is. And everyone listening to this must, it's really important that they understand that.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's incredibly important, and this is Nigel's view. I mean, as someone who speaks to Nigel about 50 times a day, the NHS must remain and will remain free at the point of forgiveness.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Look, again, if you want to talk about reform's position, is that the NHS will always remain free at the point of use. But in terms of philosophically, yeah, look, that was my view, but he's always been very principled. I'll ask you about you.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think my view is that, number one, the NHS is broken. We can get into that if we want. But in terms of how I speak to my father about it, I always took the view that, well, I wouldn't feel bad once I got to the point, this wasn't always the case for me, where I could afford private medical insurance, I would feel bad taking bedspace away from somebody. That was exactly it. I always took that view, you know?”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Even when he had to work do other work and things, he would always ensure that he turned down opportunities to earn more money. And the view he took was, oh, well, we shouldn't have two tiers of health. And I have enormous respect for that. I've always had huge respect.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I actually don't know who my dad's very principled. He won't tell me. He says a secret ballot. I won't tell you who I thought you tell me if he was. I actually don't know. I don't know that he would. I mean, look, he's been generally quite a left-wing person over the years. And, you know, my mother's been, you know, my mother voted reform, tells everyone to vote for reform. Every few hours she's sending me on WhatsApp, in our family group WhatsApp chat, a YouTube video of something or the other around reform. So she's a huge fan. But look, ultimately, regardless of where my relationship with my parents has always been one of deep love, of deep respect. I'm very grateful for everything they did for me. But, you know, one thing about my father, for example, right, where maybe that slightly center-right, center-left thing came out a bit was as a pediatrician, he has never ever done private work ever.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because I could tell even back then that there was no real reason to go to war in Iraq. I thought it was going to be a disaster. And look, you can debate, is that right wing or left-wing? I mean, it was Tony Blair that took us to war with Alistair Campbell, remember? And as far as I remember, he was a Labour prime minister. So I don't think he was a right or a left-wing thing. I think that it was totally wrong. Obviously, history has vindicated that position. So that's why I was there.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Nigel was being very precise and specific talking about a study, which was correct that was exactly what the study was looking at. Now, by the way, Nick, we cannot solve the problems this country faces if we're not allowed to talk about certain things. The vast majority of Muslims in this country, and I say this as a Muslim, love this country and are just going about their lives and doing important work all over the place. But is there a problem with some areas with regards to extremism? Is there a problem in some segments of that community where we're not getting the assimilation that we needed to get? Absolutely. And Nigel is the only politician even brave enough to actually have these conversations. I'm a big believer that numbers are numbers. We should be able to talk about data however uncomfortable it may look.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That particular conversation was about a specific study in which a cohort of young Muslim men were asked about their views, I think, on Hamas, I think was the study from Trevor Phillips.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, to be more precise than that, we were talking earlier about how important what we're doing with reform is going to be last for generations and making sure that the structure is right. People may or may not know that UKIP, obviously Nigel was the leader of UKIP. And then in the end, he stepped away from UKIP because he was actually very unhappy and took a very principled stand against figures from the actual far right entering that party in a senior way. Nigel does not care what religion you follow. He doesn't care whether you follow any religion at all. He stands up for British people and the interests of British people. What he's done for decades. And that's the thing that attracted me to him, to his politics, and to this party.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The irony about people who level those things against Nigel is that nobody has done more to actually suppress and ultimately eliminate the actual far right, which does exist, but is very small in number in this country than him, you know, with the BNP and things like that. And so I know Nigel.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When I became chairman we had about sixty thousand members. As we speak today, we've got over 195,000 members. That's happened in seven months. So people say all sorts of things on social media. But the overall trajectory of the party's membership has been unbelievable. I'd actually say pretty much without precedent.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, yeah, I have been. But the point about that is that that's quite common, actually, that that name, it serves more actually culturally as a middle name in most Muslim countries.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I do. And I, but again, look, I do have a very strong view about this, that anyone who tries their best is always in, always has great concern that they could do more, if that makes sense, right? So I'm certainly not going to say it, sit here and make any claims about being incredibly observant. But my faith is important to me, and I try my best.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, it is. I think my faith is important to me. I think, like all people of faith, we try our best, but it is totally separate to my professional life, always has been, always will be. And I think when you're formulating policy, really importantly, it should not form any part of your assessment of what the right policies are for a country, which, by the way, encompasses many faiths and obviously incredibly large and growing number of people who would not subscribe to a faith.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Second generation immigrant, aren't you just trying to pull the ladder up from behind you? And I always find that really interesting because invariably that's a white liberal interviewer asking me that question.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, perhaps. I mean, look, I've never met Rishi Sunag. I actually don't doubt that he's a decent man and that he tried his best in that job. I think that, frankly, if you're governing a party that had just been through so many prime ministers in a short period of time and half your party are Lib Dems and half of them are small Conservatives, I think you were never going to succeed. There were many other issues I think there. But look, I can talk about my story. And the reason why I'm here, the reason why I do this as a volunteer, I work 12, 15 hours a day, seven days a week doing this with everything I've got is because I love the country. And I do think a country that has been so kind to me, a country that has given me these opportunities, you know, I'm often, it's funny when I first entered British politics, Nick, I would often get asked by interviewers in broadcast, oh, well, aren't you just trying to? So we talk about wanting to freeze migration for a few years and stop the vote and say,”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One or two years old. And I remember asking, Do you mind me asking why you're so jolly? Obviously, this has been a very tragic time. And she said, because... And it was very moving. She said it was because my tsunami God took away my husband and my two sons. He spared my daughter. And I thought, no matter how tough life gets, to have that sort of perspective on life and that sense of gratitude, I suppose, is something I can only dream of and aspire to, because unfortunately I often get quite frustrated over quite small things. But I thought that was incredible and it summed up the spirit of an incredible country. And I do think my parents represent that. And I hope some of that has rubbed off on me.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think so. I think we're all obviously a product of our parents in many ways. And Sri Lanka is an incredible country. It's a very small country, but it's full of people with unbelievable spirit, highly recommend going there on holiday. And generally people who've gone, they say, Zia, the thing that struck me wasn't actually, the natural beauty was incredible, but it was the spirit of the people. They're so friendly. And despite many of them not having much in terms of means. And I actually remember, obviously, it was a country, number one, ravaged by civil war over decades, tragically. But the biggest tragedy was the tsunami, if you remember, I think it was 2004. And I remember being on the east coast of the country where my mother is from. And it was in the aftermath and there were FEMA tents everywhere. And we were walking around doing what we could to help a little bit. And there was a woman there who was a mother and she had this huge grin on her face. She was incredibly jovial and laughing and smiling. She was holding a baby, it must be.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's gone up a lot more. Even adjusted for inflation, the fees have gone up a lot, which is not a great thing, I think. But it was an amazing school. I absolutely loved it there. I'm very grateful to have gone there. But both my parents worked two jobs at the time because they were doing their main jobs and doing locums. And they took out a second mortgage to be able to send me there, which again brings us back to the VAT that has now been placed on independence. It's not bring us back to current politics. But it's an important point because that would have taken, it would have taken that task for my parents beyond their capabilities and would have sent my life in a different direction.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Those are the two that immediately still come to mind despite the decades that have passed. But I look back on those days really fondly. My mother's an extraordinary person. She is the ultimate caregiver. I'm still very close to her. I'm very proud of her. And, you know, that also came through in the sacrifices they made to send me to, you know, I went to an independent school. I won a scholarship. I won an academic scholarship, which meant the fees were reduced by 50% for me. But despite that, they both school.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, yeah. So it would be, well, specifically about a single thing so you know, for example, I still for some reason yaks are burnt into my memory, you know, the fact that they can live, you'll find them at 10,000 feet above sea level in the Himalayas. They can survive temperatures 40 degrees below freezing. Extraordinary animals. And the point about this was they really enshrined in me from a very early age how important education was.”
2025-02-07 · Political Thinking with Nick Robinson · The Zia Yusuf One · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source