Mr Burke said Tess Lazarus, a one-time Queensland state election candidate for the PUP, failed to comply with the terms of her employment. Mrs Lazarus worked for the party but was based out of Senator Lazarus' office and acted as his chief adviser. How the current Senate stacks up. But Senator Lazarus told Brisbane radio station 4BC that his wife's sacking was "one of many things" that broke the camel's back and said he had long been unhappy with the way the party was being run. "Waking up to announcements I had no idea [about] wasn't a good look and it certainly wasn't a way our party should be run," he said. "This is a decision that I didn't make overnight or this week, it's a decision that's been in the back of my mind for quite a while and I just thought that I'm better off, if I want to do my job to the best of my ability I needed to step away from the party and become an independent."

In an interview with Fairfax Media, Mr Palmer said he received Senator Lazarus' resignation by text message at 7:30pm Thursday, roughly four hours after the party sent a letter to Mrs Lazarus terminating her employment. Senator Glenn Lazarus has quit Clive Palmer's PUP. Credit:Andrew Meares Senator Lazarus made the announcement public via a Facebook post and media release in the early hours of Friday morning. "I wasn't angry, I was just disappointed," Mr Palmer said. "I think it's disappointing and unprofessional if you're a senator that you don't put a resignation in writing and deliver it in person."

Mr Palmer said when Jacqui Lambie quit the party in November she put her resignation from the party in writing before announcing it to the public. But Senator Lazarus said he phoned Mr Palmer to tell him he was considering quitting and would phone back with his decision but had to resort to text because Mr Palmer wouldn't accept his phone call. Mr Palmer said he doubted senators Lambie and Lazarus would have been elected without the backing of his party at the 2013 poll and both owed an obligation to PUP voters to continue supporting the party's policies. "If you're a senator or an MP you should be worried about your obligations to the people who elected you," he said.

Asked whether he was worried the last remaining PUP senator, Dio Wang, would quit as well, Mr Palmer replied "not really."

He blamed the party's rushed formation ahead of the 2013 election as the reason for recent high-profile departures and said the PUP candidate vetting processes had subsequently improved. Mr Palmer once commanded a powerful bloc in the Senate through senators Wang, Lazarus, Lambie and Motoring Enthusiast Ricky Muir. Ministers have been keen to wine and dine Mr Palmer to secure his support for government legislation. Mr Palmer's remaining PUP senator is West Australian Dio Wang. But those invitations could dry up now his power has been diminished given the departures of Senator Lambie and Senator Lazarus and Senator Muir's recent voting record showing he has stopped automatically voting in line with the PUP.

Loading But Mr Palmer described it as a "win-win" because the less dinner invitations he received meant he would lose more weight and keep his family happy. Follow Latika Bourke on Facebook