Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
UKIP LEADER PAUL Nuttall has said he did not lose any close friends in the Hillsborough disaster despite a releasing a statement claiming he had.
The embattled leader has come under fire since it emerged that a statement on UKIP’s website was completely inaccurate.
Yesterday, Nuttall was challenged by English radio station Radio City News where he initially tried to deny the claim.
The presenter, who was also at the game where 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives in 1989, read Nuttall his own statement over the air, with the political leader adding: ”I haven’t lost a close, personal friend. I’ve lost someone who I know.”
In a statement about attempts to block the publication of files to do with the Hillsborough inquiry, he wrote: “Without them being made public we will never get to the bottom of that appalling tragedy when 96 Liverpool fans including close personal friends of mine who lost their lives.”
However, he did defend himself and said he was there that day.
“I have witnesses. I have people who will stand up in court. And it’s cruel, it’s nasty. And it’s making out my family are lying, which is not fair or right,” he added.
A press officer for Nuttall has since offered her resignation over the controversy. Lynda Roughey has said he was “entirely responsible” for the inaccurate statement.
She said in a statement: “Paul is a man of great integrity and would not say something he knew to be untrue. It’s me who has made this mistake, and one I feel absolutely terrible about.
“I am frankly mortified at the distress this issue has caused Paul and may have caused to anyone involved with the Hillsborough tragedy.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Trump minister resigns for telling porkies, ukip press secretary resigns because of porkies. We get a tribunal, no one admits anything and the boys and girls all keep their jobs.
Just what I was thinking… nice soft jobs no matter what..
The man was a 12 year old boy when Hillsborough happened.The school he went to had councillors in to talk to those kids that were at the match and had a list of kids who needed help .His name was never on the list. His teachers and best friends at the time say he never told them he was at the match
Exactly, a liar and a con man. Has the professional qualities of a Del Boy and the personal qualities of a Jackass.
Politicians capitalise on anything and everything, we’re used to that, but attempting to capatilise on Hillsborough, that’s a new low for any politician. Unforgiveable.
So what if he wasn’t at the match. He did know people who dead. It’s splitting hairs to be honest. The usual ukip are baddies fake news in operation.
I hope the British people see through this liar as I hope we see through our own.
Campaign to demonized this man.
So people he knew died and he described them as close friends. Not exactly #UKIP Lies. As Donald would say: Fake News, totally dishonest. People get nasty when they feel threatened inclined the Political establishment
To be honest it’s his politics that already demonises him. He does that all by himself.
I can see why you equate him with Trump, he has an equally tenuous grasp on the truth.
@Biróg:@Biróg: This yoke is political establishment. He has been eating up taxpayer’s money for over 15 years. Never a honest day work in his life. College and straight into the cushy seats of government. And just like other career politicians, this one lies through his teeth as well. So no news really, you might have a point there.
He’s a liar who’s been caught out capitalising on a disaster that he had no connection to. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UjDNsOzohUY at around 1.09 he says he’s a Hillsborough survivor.
@Lisa . You hate him coz your a eurofile that’s fine. Vote tory or Labour but some story blown out of proportion is completely wrong. This is nothing but the Tories/Labour going after him over some abstract story with nothing to do with today’s politics. It was the establishment who covered up Hillsborough for years not ukip.
It was a press release. He said he was in the ground not in the stand affected. And even if he was watching it on TV, he knew some of the dead. I would have been around his age at the time it happened and it would not have affected then. Now however when I think of the lives those have missed out on and how the Tories covered it up. It makes me feel sick.
this story reminds me ‘ a few years ago a drunk on a bus was saying how he can attack two people at the same time from two different arms. he went on to say he learned this move while in the Vietnam war. the man was in his thirty’s. the whole bus started laughing.
Tony Blair, watched Jackie Milburn?
David Cameron supported West Ham, or was it Aston Villa?
Where was the big deal, all trying to get down with the college.
I am surprised at Paul
@Val Martin: Then you need to get out more.
have your say