Nigel Farage slams door on Rupert Lowe comeback after Zia Yusuf’s shock exit: 'I'd rather eat razor blades!'

Lowe was ousted from Reform after he was reported to police in March for alleged verbal threats to Yusuf.

Claims were also made about bullying against two female staff.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed it would not bring criminal charges over the allegations due to insufficient evidence.

Lowe branded the claims as “vexatious” and pointed to the fact he had called Farage a “messiah” shortly before the accusations came about.

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Asked by Farage whether Lowe could find a way back into the party, he said: “I’d rather eat razor blades after the way he’s behaved.”

He was then asked whether he would allow former deputy leader Ben Habib back, to which he responded: “Good lord, no.”

Farage continued: “You can’t work with people who, when they have the slightest disagreement with you on anything, go public the whole time.

“You can’t operate in politics with people like that. You’re going to have disagreements.

“Sit down over a cup of tea in a room and talk about it, those guys chose to do it all publicly.”

Asked about the “conflict of personality” between Yusuf and Lowe, Farage said it was not only his now departed chairman who had a problem with Lowe.

“We all had a rift with Rupert Lowe”, he said.

“Rupert’s behaviour was unacceptable on so many levels. This wasn’t just Zia. All of us found him impossible to deal with.”

Farage admitted that Yusuf's departure did come with an element of surprise as he was given a 10-minute warning before the announcement.

But he was full of praise for the man he has spent the past year building up Reform UK with.

“I’m sad that he’s going. I’m sad for the party because he leaves a gap and I am sad for him”, he said.

“I spoke to him yesterday morning and I thought ‘he’s had enough’. I could tell reading his intemperate tweet this morning that he wasn’t going to come into work tomorrow.

“From someone who has come from an ethnic minority and is intensely passionate about the party, that’s a loss.”

Rupert Lowe tweeted in response: “Farage says he would ‘rather eat razor blades’ than allow me back into Reform.

“Having sat with him as an MP for eight months, I’ve already got plenty of them in my back.

“Farage and his ego are together incapable of building a team.

“He must never be Prime Minister.”