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Ukip's leader has had to ask loudmouth Nigel Farage to stop insulting his top team, he admitted today.

Paul Nuttall spoke out after the loudmouth ex-leader was accused of scuppering his bid to unify the party.

Before Christmas Mr Farage said Ukip's only MP Douglas Carswell "shouldn't be in the party" and deputy chair Suzanne Evans had an "overinflated opinion of herself".

Asked about the comments today, Mr Nuttall told LBC Radio: "I’ve had a conversation with Nigel and you know, I sincerely believe that that won’t happen again."

Asked if Mr Farage agreed with him he said only: "Yes... I hope so."

Despite his concerns it has emerged Mr Nuttall has formally demanded a knighthood for Mr Farage, calling him a "figure of international significance" who contributed "substantially" to Brexit.

In a joint letter today to the Cabinet Office Honours and Appointments Committee with Ukip's three peers, all ex-Tory converts, he said: "He gave up what would undoubtedly have been a lucrative City career to build UKIP, which has been a very full time job over the years.

"He has however given his time to many charity events, when people donate to a charity to have a meal with him or hear him speak. We do not have a record of the amount so raised, but it must be substantial."

(Image: Getty)

Despite standing down from his fourth term as Ukip leader in November, Mr Farage still appears regularly on TV and has been granted his own four-hour-a-week radio show.

The new leader, meanwhile, brought Ms Evans in from the cold after she was suspended and has vowed to make amends with outspoken MP Mr Carswell, who is the party's only voice in the House of Commons.

In a phone-in today, a caller told Mr Nuttall the ex-leader had been "rude and unpleasant" about the pair and questioned if he "respects your authority".

He replied: "I stood on a platform of unity, absolutely correct, and I received the biggest mandate in the history of Ukip.

"People have been fed up with the infighting, they were fed up with what they saw in Strasbourg, and as I said in my acceptance speech - Ukip at the time represented the jigsaw that had been poured onto the floor and it was my job to put it back together. I’ve been doing that.

"Look, I’ve had conversations with Nigel, I’ve had conversations with Douglas, we all have to put everything behind us now, say bygones are bygones, because the cause is bigger than any personality and any individual."

Pointedly Mr Nuttall added: "We need to move on from being seen as a one man band. We need to see more Ukip faces on TV, more Ukip faces on radio."

During a wide-ranging interview Mr Nuttall reaffirmed his bid to halve the abortion time limit to 12 weeks, boldly claiming: "There’s nothing controversial there."

He added: "If there was a referendum on the return of the death penalty for child-killers I would vote in favour."