UKIP's leader faces more questions about claims on his website

UKIP's party's leader Paul Nuttall has faced fresh questions about claims made on his website.

He's hoping to take the Stoke-on-Trent Central seat from Labour in Thursday's by-election.

But he faced further claims about inaccuracies on his website after a training charity denied an assertion on his website that he had been on its board.

His website, which has been taken down for "scheduled maintenance" after it emerged that claims he lost "close personal friends" in the Hillsborough disaster were false, suggested that he was joining the board of the North West Training Council (NWTC).

A press release from September 2009 said the North West England MEP was invited to the post after accepting an invitation to visit the NWTC.

"They are doing a first-class job and I am thrilled at the honour of being a board member," Mr Nuttall said.

But the organisation's chief executive, Paul Musa, said Mr Nuttall had never served on the board.

He told the Guardian: "Mr Nuttall was never invited to become a board member of NWTC as this would need to be a directive of the NWTC board, who he never met."

A Ukip spokesman said he was "rather surprised that this has just cropped up" and insisted the press release was put out with NWTC's knowledge.

"If it had not been accurate, don't you think it would have been complained about at the time?" the spokesman said.