Ukip leader in lying row over his ‘ lost friends’ at Hillsborough
UKIP leader Paul Nuttall faced embarrassment last night after being forced to admit that claims he had lost ‘ close personal friends’ in the Hillsborough disaster were untrue.
The Liverpudlian MEP has repeatedly told how he was a survivor of the 1989 stadium tragedy that killed 96 football fans.
But he was forced into a humiliating retreat after being confronted by a claim on his website that ‘close personal friends’ had died in the disaster.
He admitted it was a lie, but said he had not written the offending words.
Mr Nuttall, 40, told Liverpool radio station Radio City Talk: ‘I haven’t lost a close personal friend – I’ve lost someone who I know. That’s not true, that’s absolutely… I’m sorry I haven’t lost anyone who was a close personal friend. I’m sorry about that.’
He said he did not know who wrote the claim on his website. ‘I haven’t put that out, that is wrong,’ he added.
In an entry on the website in August 2011, Mr Nuttall called for the Government to release files on Hillsborough and was quoted as saying: ‘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 lost their lives.’ He said he was ‘hurt, angry and disgusted’ after an article in The Guardian last week cast doubt on his claim that he was even present when the fans were crushed to death.
It was reported that two people, a childhood friend and a former teacher, could not recall Mr Nuttall ever mentioning he had been at the disaster. The paper also quoted the Hillsborough Family Support Group questioning why he had not offered support in his role as an MEP.
Mr Nuttall, who was 12 at the time of the tragedy, claims he went to the match with his father and two uncles.
Earlier this week, he said: ‘I feel bloody angry, angrier than I’ve ever been and I thought I had seen everything in politics.
‘I know it’s a dirty game but this is beyond scraping the barrel.
‘It’s upset me, it’s upset my family. For a proud Scouser and a season ticket holder at Anfield, to have this thrown at you is worse than anything.’
In the interview yesterday, Mr Nuttall added: ‘I want to make it perfectly clear, I was there on that day. I have got witnesses, people who will stand up in court and back me 100 per cent.
‘It is cruel and it is nasty, it’s making out that my family are lying, which is not fair or right.’
Mr Nuttall is standing in the by- election in Labour- held Stoke-on-Trent Central on February 23. Since being elected as Nigel Farage’s replacement in November, Mr Nuttall has been dogged by claims that he has not always told the truth. He faces a police probe for electoral fraud after admitting he did not live at the address listed as his home on by- election nomination papers. Last year, it emerged that he had claimed to have been a professional football player on election leaflets, having only played for Tranmere Rovers youth team. He also faced embarrassment over a LinkedIn page that claimed he had a PhD from Liverpool Hope University, despite not completing the course. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: ‘It is sad to see a tragic event like Hillsborough being dragged into politics. Paul Nuttall’s blatant untruths have caught up with him. I’m sure voters in Stoke will punish him as a result.’
Barry Devonside, whose son Christopher, 18, was a Hillsborough victim, said last night: ‘Any credibility he had has gone out of the window. It’s insensitive.’
Margaret Aspinall, of the tragedy’s support group, said the claim that Mr Nuttall lost close friends was ‘an insult’ to those who had.
Last night, Mr Nuttall said: ‘This was an article that I did not write and did not see prior to is being posted by a member of my staff. I take responsibility for things put out under my name, but I was genuinely taken aback when this claim was brought to my attention and am appalled and very sorry that an impression was given that was not accurate.’
‘His untruths have caught up with him’