Back four good: Robbie Williams 'leaves Take That' again

Gary Barlow has said that Take That are a four-piece again, saying the group's time with Robbie Williams has ended "perfectly".

The 40-year-old X Factor judge told the Radio Times that Williams was no longer in the band.

"It was beautiful. We got on well. We finished the tour. We're all happy", he said.

"The fans have come along and been happy. Great, great, great, great, great. Now Rob's doing a solo record, and from this point it's back to where it was."

He said Take That's revival as a five-man band "ended perfectly", adding: "You know what, we can revisit it whenever we want.

"He's our brother, Rob is, and if he's ever in trouble or he wants to have a year off being Robbie Williams, he's welcome any time he wants."

However, despite Gary's comments, a spokesperson for the band insisted the group was simply on 'a break'.

He told the Mail Online: 'I can confirm that the band are not splitting and there is no pending announcement of a split.

'The band are on a break, Gary is doing X Factor and Robbie is working on his new solo album.'

The chart-toppers announced in 2010 that they would be performing their first tour as a complete group, Progress Live 2011, for 16 years.

Barlow said of the pair's previous fall-outs: "It would be unfair for me to say he's the one with the ego because I've got a pretty big ego as well.

"And especially in those younger days when I was 24 and he was 20, but then you come back - I was 38 and he was 34 - and it's like 'Let's talk this through'."

He told the magazine: "All those years I'd just imagined this moment to actually be sat there opposite this person who'd said so much worse than anybody else had ever in my life, done so much damage and said so much bad stuff...

"Not to my face. In records and in print... It was the way it was being done I didn't like. And to eventually be sat there opposite the person was liberating."

Barlow has been criticised during his time on The X Factor over his treatment of failed contestant Ceri Rees.

In scenes cut from the ITV1 show, he is said to have mocked the contestant by rifling through her handbag - leading to boos from the audience.

He told the magazine: "I've upset a lot of people, most of all the audiences, which I've thoroughly enjoyed. I've spent 20 years being cheered and screamed after, but being booed is actually quite addictive."