Conservative Party grandee Ken Clarke has been criticised for comments about the Hillsborough disaster in relation to the current coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Clarke, who was a Tory MP for nearly 50 years, was speaking to the Press and Journal newspaper about the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis.
When asked by reporter Daniel O'Donoghue about the performance of his Conservative colleagues in government during the pandemic, he said: "What I’ve avoided doing is just sitting in my sitting room second guessing former colleagues.
"In two or three years time everybody will have 2020 hindsight, so we’ll have a Hillsborough-type inquiry in which everybody is looking for someone to blame.”
In 2016, new inquests concluded that the 96 football fans were unlawfully killed.
Mr Clarke, a former Justice Secretary, has been criticised for his choice of words when discussing the three decades-long fight for justice from the families of the 96 Liverpool fans who lost their lives in the disaster.
Labour West Derby MP Ian Byrne was in the Leppings Lane End on the day of the disaster in 1989 and escaped before the tragic crush occured.
He said: "Thirty-one years after Hillsborough it is shameful to discover former Justice Secretary Ken Clarke mistaking the search for truth and justice by families and survivors as “looking for someone to blame”.
"The comments show exactly how the Establishment viewed the Hillsborough families’ campaign and precisely why Maria Eagle’s Public Advocate Bill (known as Hillsborough Law) is so vital moving forward."
Liverpool Garston and Halewood MP Maria Eagle recently reintroduced her Public Advocate Bill in Parliament which aims to provide a voice for bereaved families.
Backed by the Hillsborough Families Support Group it would introduce an independent Public Advocate to represent families in the aftermath of a tragedy - something the families of the 96 did not have as they battled for justice.
The ECHO contacted Mr Clarke to ask for an explanation for his comments in the Press and Journal, he said his words were not intended to be critical.
Mr Clarke said: “My comment was not meant to be a disparaging remark on the Hillsborough Inquiry, described in my comment as a ‘Hillsborough-type’ inquiry, and I am sorry that some people are putting that spin on it”.
