Ukip leader in ‘fake CV’ row as he vows to storm Commons
UKIP’S new leader was at the centre of a ‘fake CV’ row last night over allegations that he falsely claimed to hold a university doctorate.
The row, which comes just days after Paul Nuttall had to backtrack over boasts about playing professional football for Tranmere Rovers, has blown up over his online CV which refers to a ‘PhD, History’ from ‘Liverpool Hope University’ in 2004.
It caused bafflement at the institution, which did not win university status until 2005 and did not have the authority to award PhDs until 2009.
The embarrassment comes as this newspaper has learned that Mr Nuttall, who succeeded Nigel Farage last Monday, is hoping to storm the Commons by standing in the Leigh by-election early next year.
The contest will be triggered when Labour’s Andy Burnham stands down as he bids to become Mayor of Manchester. It gives Mr Nuttall an early chance to escape from the shadow of Mr Farage, who failed seven times to win a Commons seat.
Mr Nuttall’s educational achievement was listed on the LinkedIn professional networking site but was taken down on Friday, shortly after The Mail on Sunday started making enquiries.
A senior source at Liverpool Hope University told this newspaper: ‘You have no right to bandy those letters around until you have finished your doctorate and passed the viva exam. The education section is for qualifications you have been awarded, not ones you’d like to have one day.’
Last night, a spokesman for Mr Nuttall said the entry had been misleadingly completed by an ‘overenthusiastic researcher’ and Mr Nuttall one day hoped to complete the PhD research into the ‘History of Conservatism in Liverpool’, which he started at the then college 12 years ago.
Liverpool Hope University declined to comment to The Mail on Sunday about Mr Nuttall on ‘data protection’ grounds. But in an email sent to Mr Nuttall, a spokeswoman asked for his permission to ‘confirm to the media’ that ‘you gained a Masters qualification from us in 2003 and not a PhD in 2004 (I am, however, aware that you started the PhD course)… and that you were employed as a temporary, hourly paid lecturer at Liverpool Hope University between 2004-2005 and 2005-2006’.
It is not the first time that Mr Nuttall has been at the centre of controversy over his intellectual credentials: he was pictured in Ukip’s 2015 Election manifesto standing in front of a library full of duplicate books – the image had been digitally altered to make the collection seem more extensive.
Ukip sources said last night that Mr Nuttall was optimistic about overturning Labour’s 14,000 majority in Leigh: the party secured nearly 20 per cent of the vote in the 2015 General Election, and was just 1,300 votes off the second-placed Conservatives. It means he could win the seat on a much smaller swing than the one which propelled the Lib Dems to victory over Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park by-election on Thursday.
Mr Nuttall was embarrassed last week after a claim on his personal website that he had been a ‘professional footballer’ for Tranmere Rovers was denied by the club. A Ukip spokesman said he had played for the Tranmere schoolboy and youth teams, and the embellishment was an ‘innocent mistake’ by a press officer.
A Ukip spokesman said: ‘The LinkedIn page has not been updated since 2009. We do not know who put up the page and we had it taken down before being approached by The Mail on Sunday.’