This is getting very unpleasant.
Following Paul Nuttall’s embarrassing admission that his own personal website carried a clear falsehood about a close friend of his dying at Hillsborough, there is fresh controversy around UKIP comments about his involvement in the aftermath of the disaster.
Nigel Farage has spoken to the Express about complaints levelled at Nuttall that he has taken advantage of – and been untruthful about – such a tragic event to advance his own political ambitions. Farage claims that the UKIP was in some way barred from joining Hillsborough groups.
He said:
“Oh yes. For years the Labour party have tried to keep him out of the whole Hillsborough debate purely for party political reasons. He has tried in the past to join the various groups and he has literally been excluded from them.”
Website Swawkbox contacted members of prominent Hillsborough groups and campaigns – something the Express did not do – to comment on the accusation from Farage. They were both shocked and dismayed by the allegations.
Margaret Aspinall, Chair of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, was incredulous:
“They’ve said what?! We have never, ever – and I mean ever – heard from Paul Nuttall. We’re not a group he could ‘join’ anyway – you have to have lost a family member at Hillsborough. So clearly Mr Farage has no idea what he’s talking about and we will not have him casting aspersions on us or our families.”
Meanwhile Kenny Derbyshire, Chairman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, and angry but not surprised:
“Paul Nuttall and Nigel Farage are talking absolute nonsense. We have never heard from him, not even once and if they’re trying to claim they’ve been blocked from joining us they’re just trying to cover up one lie with another. How dare he – we’ve never thought much of him and this just confirms our opinion.”
All this follows comments by high-profile UKIP donor Arron Banks that many found highly offensive and upsetting.
