LIVE: Nigel Farage Hosts Reform UK Press Conference in London

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Nigel Farage said his party chairman “lost his rag” when he quit last week, as the Reform leader sought to draw a line under reports of infighting with the launch of his campaign to take power in Wales next May. READ MORE: https://www.thetimes.com/article/ff8ce819-0703-4fbe-8e90-77a42eec98ae In his first extended public appearance since Zia Yusuf’s resignation and surprise return, Farage said he had “forgiven” his colleague and pledged to build a “much broader team” before elections to the Welsh Senedd next year. Farage said he had worked “inseparably” alongside Yusuf but admitted the former chairman had “lost his rag” when he abruptly quit Reform last Thursday. He said: “Was I annoyed with Zia on Thursday? Well, I wasn’t exactly chuffed … but, you know what? People make mistakes. He came back to me and honestly said, ‘Look I’m really sorry’. And I’ve forgiven him. It’s behind us, it’s done.” Farage dismissed comparisons between Reform’s recent travails and the internal warfare that blighted his leadership of Ukip but admitted his party needed to prove it could build a “broad-based team” before next year’s devolved elections in Wales and Scotland. Pledging to grant Reform’s Welsh branch full autonomy, he said: “It is about much more than me.” Farage was speaking in Port Talbot, the steelmaking town near Swansea, to set out Reform’s plans to reindustrialise Wales, but opened his speech with a lengthy explanation of Yusuf’s resignation and return. Read the best of our journalism: https://www.thetimes.com/ Subscribe to The Times and The Sunday Times YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=timesonlinevideo Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timesandsundaytimes/ Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thetimes Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetimes/ #livestream #reformuk #nigelfarage #london