Labour leader Ed Miliband has apologised for being pictured with The Sun's free special edition yesterday.
The Liverpool Echo says a number of Liverpool MPs, including Steve Rotherham, confronted Miliband today in London:
A source said: “He was left in no doubt whatsoever about what they thought. Ed Miliband said he was very, very sorry.”
Politics.co.uk has more on this story and quotes a Labour spokesperson:
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Ed Miliband was promoting England’s bid to win the World Cup and is proud to do so.
But he understands the anger that is felt towards The Sun over Hillsborough by many people in Merseyside and he is sorry to those who feel offended."
Telegraph comment writer Dan Hodges described Miliband's apology as "so earth shatteringly stupid that even I can’t believe I’m typing these words".
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He said:
There are good arguments for posing with the Sun. There are good arguments for not posing with the Sun. But there are no – literally no – arguments for posing with the Sun one day and then apologising for it 24 hours later.
All three party leaders posed with The Sun to help promote a special edition of the paper which went to nearly every household in England this week. The 24-page edition was described as a celebration of Englishness.
It was delivered everywhere in England apart from Liverpool, where The Sun is stil widely hated because of a 1989 front page story headlined Hillsborough: The Truth. This reported false allegations that fans themselves were to blame for the Hillsborough stadium tragedy in which 96 died.
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