Thursday, February 16, 2017
Lost in UKIP fantasy land
The 12 year old Paul Nuttall may well have been at Hillsborough, however, the fact that he and/or his staff have subsequently sought to build up a personal mythology around that tragedy is clearly inappropriate and insulting to the families of those who died and to the community in which they were rooted.
As the Independent reports, the false claim that Mr. Nuttall lost “close personal friends” in the Hillsborough disaster was made twice on his website and repeated in a news story on the BBC. These claims have sat on his website for over five years without any apparent attempt by the MEP to remove them.
Now Mr Nuttall is in a high profile position and under scrutiny, we are asked to believe that the mistake was made by a staff member and the website has been taken down. But who was really to blame for the 'error'?
The Independent says that despite Lynda Roughley, a press officer for Mr Nuttall, saying that she had offered to resign because she had been “entirely responsible” for the website post, in fact the same claim that Mr Nuttall had lost close friends at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium were repeated in another post on his website in 2011 and in a contemporary BBC report.
They add that questions now remain over whether Mr Nuttall was aware of the separate claims made on his website and in the BBC report. It is also unclear whether Ms Roughley was responsible for both of the posts on the Ukip leader’s website.
But where did the claim originate from in the first place? This website says that the first posting on Nuttall's website in 2011 was actually made over an hour after he made the claim to the BBC, when it appeared on their website:
The dates and times are unquestionably being preserved intact in the facsimiles.
As you can see, the creation date/time of the BBC article is 17 August 2011 at 14.44pm and 48 seconds.
The creation date/time of Nuttall’s entry is 17 August 2011 at 15.39 and 56 seconds – almost a full hour later.
In other words, Nuttall gave his quote to the BBC, who then put it on their website. And 55 minutes later, Nuttall or his ‘staffers’ copied it to his blog.
It never seemed credible that any press officer would invent something like this to enhance the reputation of their employer.
Thanks to the fact that the internet has a habit of logging everything that is posted on it, the chain of events are now open to question. Is it possible that the claim that the UKIP leader lost close personal friends at Hillsborough could have originated from an interview given by Nuttall to the BBC back in 2011?
As the Independent reports, the false claim that Mr. Nuttall lost “close personal friends” in the Hillsborough disaster was made twice on his website and repeated in a news story on the BBC. These claims have sat on his website for over five years without any apparent attempt by the MEP to remove them.
Now Mr Nuttall is in a high profile position and under scrutiny, we are asked to believe that the mistake was made by a staff member and the website has been taken down. But who was really to blame for the 'error'?
The Independent says that despite Lynda Roughley, a press officer for Mr Nuttall, saying that she had offered to resign because she had been “entirely responsible” for the website post, in fact the same claim that Mr Nuttall had lost close friends at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium were repeated in another post on his website in 2011 and in a contemporary BBC report.
They add that questions now remain over whether Mr Nuttall was aware of the separate claims made on his website and in the BBC report. It is also unclear whether Ms Roughley was responsible for both of the posts on the Ukip leader’s website.
But where did the claim originate from in the first place? This website says that the first posting on Nuttall's website in 2011 was actually made over an hour after he made the claim to the BBC, when it appeared on their website:
The dates and times are unquestionably being preserved intact in the facsimiles.
As you can see, the creation date/time of the BBC article is 17 August 2011 at 14.44pm and 48 seconds.
The creation date/time of Nuttall’s entry is 17 August 2011 at 15.39 and 56 seconds – almost a full hour later.
In other words, Nuttall gave his quote to the BBC, who then put it on their website. And 55 minutes later, Nuttall or his ‘staffers’ copied it to his blog.
It never seemed credible that any press officer would invent something like this to enhance the reputation of their employer.
Thanks to the fact that the internet has a habit of logging everything that is posted on it, the chain of events are now open to question. Is it possible that the claim that the UKIP leader lost close personal friends at Hillsborough could have originated from an interview given by Nuttall to the BBC back in 2011?
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I believe that this is not the first instance of Mr Nuttall claiming that someone else posted incorrect information in the biographical (the word is used advisedly and might better be fictional) details on his website. As I recall, it also covered his playing for Tranmere Rovers and his academic credentials including a doctorate. Once might just be unfortunate (although it's not), twice looks a little more suspicious.
Not related but still part of the dirty tricks scenario' Our candidate in Copeland was doing an internet q and a on the internet. some one cut out her answers from the debate. (She was talking about it on her live Facebook page.
# posted by 
: 11:52 AM
: 11:52 AM
This man, like many Ukip representatives, has a very dodgy track record. The Hillsborough claim is merely the latest in a very long list of lies.
During the past few years Nuttall has claimed that he completed a PhD in History in 2004 at Liverpool Hope University. This establishment did not become a university until 2005 and did not have the authority to award PhDs until 2009.
His website also says that he was once a professional footballer at Tranmere Rovers. Rovers say that this was 'definitely not' the case.
Then, recently, he claimed to live in Stoke-on-Trent. He gave his home address as an end-of-terrace house near the city centre, but Channel 4 News's Michael Crick revealed it appeared to be empty.
It is one lie after another - and every time, he seems to end up blaming members of staff for these errors.
He might at least have said that he played for Everton!
Carry on with the good work Peter.
During the past few years Nuttall has claimed that he completed a PhD in History in 2004 at Liverpool Hope University. This establishment did not become a university until 2005 and did not have the authority to award PhDs until 2009.
His website also says that he was once a professional footballer at Tranmere Rovers. Rovers say that this was 'definitely not' the case.
Then, recently, he claimed to live in Stoke-on-Trent. He gave his home address as an end-of-terrace house near the city centre, but Channel 4 News's Michael Crick revealed it appeared to be empty.
It is one lie after another - and every time, he seems to end up blaming members of staff for these errors.
He might at least have said that he played for Everton!
Carry on with the good work Peter.
# posted by : 11:53 AM
: 11:53 AM
It would be nice to think that all these Nuttall rebuttals would end his political career, but there are several politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, still thriving in spite of false assertions about their qualifications having been refuted in public more than once.
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