As Paul Nuttall receives flak today over his admission that the claim on his website that he lost ‘close personal’ friends in the Hillsborough disaster is false, his press officer appears to have fallen on her sword. Lynda Roughley says she made the mistake and has offered to resign. Roughley adds that she feels ‘absolutely terrible’ as Paul is ‘a man of great integrity’ who ‘would not say something he knew to be untrue’.
So, does this mean Roughley has been making errors for some time now? Mr S only asks as this is not the first time Nuttall has been accused of bending the truth. In fact, there appears to be a pattern developing of Nuttall blaming factual errors about himself on other people.
- Nuttall is not a ‘professional footballer’.
Although Nuttall made two references on his website to being a ‘professional footballer’ for Tranmere Rovers, the club last year said this was definitely not the case. And who was behind the error? Nuttall said he had never claimed to be ‘professional’ and blamed the misunderstanding on a press officer.
- Paul Nuttall does not have a PhD.
In December, the Mail on Sunday reported that Nuttall’s LinkedIn page claimed he completed a PhD in History in 2004 at Liverpool Hope University. This was odd given that the establishment did not gain university status until 2005. Nuttall’s explanation? The LinkedIn page had nothing to do with him.
So, is the ‘press officer excuse’ the new ‘dog ate my homework’, or do Ukip need to seriously rethink their hiring strategy?
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