Top Ukip donor ‘sick to death’ of hearing about Hillsborough
ONE of Ukip’s biggest donors said that he is “sick to death” of hearing about the Hillsborough football disaster during a row with a columnist.
Arron Banks accused the newspaper columnist of “milking a tragedy forever” when exchanging views on the 1989 disaster in which 96 people died.
Mr Banks made the comments after Ukip leader Paul Nuttall, who attended the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final, admitted that a claim he lost close friends was false.
In a series of tweets about Hillsborough following the row Mr Banks responded to a Daily Mirror columnist who said: “If Nuttall [Ukip leader] was at Hillsborough he clearly didn’t learn its most powerful lesson: Every Right-wing gobs---- who lies about it gets found out.”
The Ukip donor replied: “I’m sick to death of hearing about it. It was a disaster and that’s it, not some sort of cultural happening.” The columnist said he was “sorry” Mr Banks was sick of hearing about the disaster, to which the Ukip donor replied: “No, milking a tragedy forever is sick.”
He later added: “If a policeman opens a gate trying to help and makes a bad decision it’s an accident. As for a cover up it was the 80s ... I [have] been at some matches that were squeezed beyond belief. This could have happened anywhere anytime.
“I understand that people have the need to blame others, the cover-up was wrong but in overcrowded stadiums accidents happened.”
His remarks were criticised by Hillsborough campaigners. Charlotte Hennessey, whose father James died in the disaster, tweeted: “It was a completely preventable disaster caused by gross negligence that resulted in 96 people unlawfully killed. Actually.”
Mr Banks later added: “I didn’t say there wasn’t a cover-up. Someone screwed up but it’s still an accident and it’s time to see it for what it is.” He has more than 18,000 Twitter followers.
The comments followed an admission by Mr Nuttall that he did not lose close personal friends in the tragedy, although he did attend the match with two of his uncles. The Ukip leader, a candidate in the Stoke by-election, said he was not aware the comments on his website had been attributed to him.
Asked about the claims on Liverpool’s Radio City News he said: “I’m sorry about that, but that is something ... I haven’t put that out. That is wrong.” He later told a press officer, who offered her resignation for posting the error, that she could stay.
During a campaign visit to the seat yesterday, Douglas Carswell, Ukip’s only MP, defended Mr Nuttall and described him as a fantastic candidate.
He said: “Obviously when you are fighting a by-election, sometimes the tide is with you, sometimes the tide is against you. But I think this is a real opportunity to make sure it’s the Labour party that’s beached on 23 February.”