Ukip’s Paul Nuttall confirms he gave a three-hour witness statement to Hillsborough investigation yesterday after two chairman quit over his ‘insensitive’ handling of the issue
PAUL Nuttall has given a witness statement to the criminal investigation into the Hillsborough disaster, he has said.
The Ukip leader told the BBC this morning that he had apologised to the "people that matter", the day after two chairmen resigned over his handling of the matter.
And he finally distanced himself from Ukip donor Aaron Banks, who said earlier this week that he was "sick to death" of hearing about Hillsborough.
The heads of Ukip’s Liverpool and Merseyside branches quit their positions in a huge blow for the leader just days before he stands for election in Stoke.
Stuart Monkcom and Adam Heatherington – from Mr Nuttall’s OWN branch – said he was "unprofessional", "intolerable" and his response showed "crass insensitivity".
Mr Nuttall is standing to become an MP in Stoke-Central after the Labour MP Tristram Hunt stepped down earlier this year, but he said that he wouldn't resign as leader if he loses on Thursday.
The Ukip leader was forced to admit that claims on his website that he had lost "close friends" in the disaster were wrong last week.
His website is still under maintenance, and he has claimed he never read the statement before it was posted.
He said: “I haven’t lost a close, personal friend. I’ve lost someone who I know.
“I’m sorry about that, but that is something… I haven’t put that out. That is wrong.”
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Today he revealed that he had spent "three hours yesterday morning in Operation Resolve giving a witness statement".
He has claimed that he was present at the match when ninety-six football fans died in the tragic crush at Hillsborough football club in Sheffield in 1989.
During the radio hustings with the other candidates for the by-election on BBC 5 Live, he repeated comments that he had been the victim of a smear campaign.
He said: "It is part of a wider smear campaign which started last Friday, whereby there was a claim in a newspaper that I wasn’t actually at the Hillsborough disaster even though I provided a witness statement that I was there."
He also tried to distance himself from donor Mr Banks, who caused fury with his tweets saying people were "milking it" and "accidents happen".
Today Mr Nuttall said he was "entitled to his own views" but refused to condemn his comments.
And he rejected claims from the resigned chairmen that he had been insensitive.
He said: "The crassness wasn’t shown by me. And I spoke to one of the former branch chairmen last night who said that he went out to bat for me on the press, on national media as well.
"I hold my hands up. I did not check something that went up on my website. I did not write it. But it’s my responsibility, it’s my website, I should have checked it."