Second Member Of Reform UK's New Cost-Cutting Doge Department Quits

A second member of Reform UK’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) resigned last night, days after the new unit was set up.

Tech entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried was announced to lead the party’s cost-cutting unit on Monday, but quit on Thursday night alongside Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf.

Doge is the brainchild of the world’s richest man Elon Musk, who promised to cut trillions of dollars from the US federal government with the advisory body.

After Reform won 677 seats in the English local elections last month, it promised to “identify wasteful spending and recommend actionable solutions” within the councils it now controls.

However, days after Reform’s Doge arrived at Kent County Council, the department seems to have already fallen apart – before it can even make any significant cuts.

Yusuf quit on Thursday night, announcing on social media: “I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office.”

Just 38 minutes later, Fried also wrote on X: “I have a huge amount of respect for the work that the councils are doing to save tax payer money, and reduce wastage.

″@ZiaYusufUK got me in and I believe it is appropriate for me to leave with him. I have absolute confidence that the reform DOGE will succeed without me.”

He then inexplicably attached a photo of Musk – who quit his own American Doge department last week – edited to give him laser vision.

Fried’s departure instantly sparked a gleeful response on social media.

Yusuf and Fried’s sudden departures follow a row within the party, triggered by Reform’s new MP Sarah Pochin.

She asked the prime minister if the government would consider banning the burqa – a move Yusuf described as “dumb” on social media on Wednesday.

In a bizarre twist of fate, Musk also had a huge bust-up with his Donald Trump last night after he criticised the president’s new sweeping budget bill.

Trump claimed he actually asked Musk “to leave” his Doge post last month – but the tech magnate called that an “obvious lie”.