A Tory councillor has faced backlash for using a picture from the scene of the Liverpool bomb attack to mock Jeremy Corbyn.
Paul Nickerson shared the picture on Twitter late on Monday evening which showed an image of Mr Corbyn holding a poppy wreath photoshopped onto another picture of the burning car used in the Liverpool bomb attack.
Mr Nickerson has since deleted the tweet and issued an apology on Tuesday morning on Twitter. The post read: “I would like to apologies [sic] for a political tweet sent from my account yesterday which has been upsetting for some people and I unreservedly apologise to all concerned.”
In another deleted tweet, the Tory Councillor for East Riding of Yorkshire initially blamed hackers for some of the posts that had come from his account on Monday evening.
It read: “Apologies for the round of inappropriate direct messages that have been sent out from my account they are not of my hand – normal service now resumed, I have over 1000 notifications so forgive any further delay in response.”
The original tweet was met with a lot of backlash, with some users submitting formal complaints to East Riding Council. One user tweeted:
“Absolutely horrific tweet from an elected @Conservatives Councillor. I have tonight contacted the Chair & Vice Chair of @East_Riding Council at councillor.nigel.wilinson@eastriding.gov.uk & clerk@hornsea.gov.uk. Whatever your personal ‘politics,’ this is completely unacceptable.”
Some Twitter users also shared that they were blocked by the councillor when they responded to his original tweet, calling his post offensive.
Aaron Bastani, co-founder of Novara Media, tweeted: “I’ve been blocked by this Tory councillor for saying this isn’t acceptable for someone in elected office.
“@councillorpaul_ is mocking events in Liverpool where innocent people could have been killed. Too many idiots like this in local government.”
The East Riding of Yorkshire Council is yet to issue a statement regarding Mr Nickerson’s tweets.
