One of the key qualifications for a party chairman is staying cool in a crisis and David Bull has first-hand experience of life and death situations.

David Bull trained in medicine at Imperial College, London, and has worked in the pressures of a London Accident & Emergency department.

The other key skill required by a chairman is going on the television when the party is hit by upheaval. Mr Bull has decades of experience as a broadcaster.

Crucially for Reform UK, he knows how to communicate with people who have other priorities than staying up to watch a detailed policy debate on Newsnight. He is well-known for hosting Most Haunted Live! and threw his energies into Newsround, the children’s news show.

A third requirement for a chairman is that he or she can bring together the different wings of a party and avoid causing outrage in the ranks. Mr Bull’s has deep roots in the party, having served as an MEP for the Brexit Party and as a deputy leader of successor party Reform. He remembers sitting at his kitchen table in Suffolk with Richard Tice as they put together plans for Reform.

The party will hope he can expand the already impressive reach of a party which tops the opinion polls. Nigel Farage says his role is “not to get involved with the admin, not to get involved with the tech”.

He is does not come across as someone who is uncomfortable in the 21st century.

Mr Bull led a review of sexual health for the Conservatives and has authored books including Cool and Celibate? Sex and No Sex.

Former chairman Zia Yusuf – a former entrepreneur who worked in Goldman Sachs known for his brisk management style – has joked that Mr Bull is more “affable and charming” than him.

Mr Bull responded to Mr Yusuf’s return to the party after his shock resignation last week that he was “thrilled” he was back in the Reform fold.

This is the latest chapter in a packed career for Mr Bull.

Born in Farnborough, he studied at independent school Framlingham College before pursuing his medical training. He soon branched out into television, giving travel advice on Sky.

Mr Bull has appeared on many Britain’s most famous programmes, including the Alan Titchmarsh Show, Tomorrow’s World and Watchdog. According to his CV on his school’s alumni website his campaigns include lobbying to “provide a hot meal for all schoolchildren”, pushing for “new born screening for Cystic Fibrosis” and calling on “Richard Branson to put fruit on all Virgin Trains”.