by 
This month’s UKIP leader Paul Nuttall has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown over claims on his own website that he has ‘friends’.
In an interview given to Liverpool’s Radio City station, Mr Nuttall was confronted with the articles posted on his own website that stated he had ‘close personal friends’.
Pressed on these words in the interview, Mr Nuttall was forced to concede that they weren’t true.
“I have never had any friends,” he said.
“Certainly not close personal friends, largely because of my abhorrent views on East Europeans and promotion of hate, bigotry and intolerance.
“Even Nigel is now refusing to campaign with me, which isn’t very friend-like.”
The admission, whilst personally embarrassing for Mr Nuttall, seems to have had little effect on his position or his standing with party members.
“I will continue to support the excellent Mr Nuttall,” said UKIP supporter and borderline simpleton Gary Williams.
“Many people in UKIP do not have friends. I certainly don’t have friends. Would you be friends with someone in UKIP?
“I did once have an imaginary friend when I was a boy, but he stopped coming to play when I told him what I thought of the Pakistani family who lived at Number 42.”
Mr Nuttall’s website has now been corrected and the phrase ‘close personal friends’ has been replaced with the phrase ‘people who do not openly refer to me as hateful’.
