Disgusting comments made by Tory front-bencher.

I'm quite surprised that in this day and age a Tory is so blinkered as to say what he did in the article below. Using Hillsborough to sell his wares is a disgrace. The following is from the BBC News site. The article and more comment is available from BBC Liverpool site.

Bigley article angers Liverpool

The column has been labelled 'Tory propaganda'

Tory MP Boris Johnson has been attacked after his magazine used the death of Ken Bigley to claim Liverpudlians "wallow" in their "victim status".

An editorial in The Spectator magazine, which he edits, said the city's outpouring of grief for the murdered hostage was "disproportionate".

A Tory spokesman said the article did not reflect the party's view.

The publication was "a matter for the Spectator," he said, but Mr Johnson's frontbench job was not under threat.

The Hillsborough Family Support Group described the article as "typical Tory propaganda".

The article said fans at the Hillsborough disaster, when 96 people died, were at fault rather than the police.

We're a friendly city and we stand by each other Phil Hammond, Hillsborough Family Support Group Have your say on the article

Phil Hammond, vice chairman of the group said: "Boris Johnson, he knows nothing about this.

"He doesn't even know how many people died at Hillsborough.

"I doubt whether he has ever been to Liverpool.

"We don't see ourselves as victims. We're a friendly city and we stand by each other when one of us gets hurt or killed.

"He wants to come to Liverpool and see how friendly we are," he said.

'Tribal grievance'

The article, in the issue dated 16 October, says people in Liverpool "cannot accept that they might have made any contribution to their misfortunes, but seek rather to blame someone else for it, thereby deepening their sense of shared tribal grievance about the rest of society".

It says Liverpudlians "wallow" in their "victim status", adding it is part of the "deeply unattractive psyche" of many in the city.

The article goes on to say Ken Bigley's brother Paul was wrong to say the Prime Minister has "blood on his hands".

It says Mr Bigley took a risk by working in Iraq against the advice of the Foreign Office, and that "his motives and misjudgements... should, without lessening sympathy for him and his family, temper the outpouring of sentimentality in which many have engaged for him".

A spokeswoman at the Spectator confirmed that Mr Johnson "directed the article to be written" and that he saw it ahead of publication.