Ukip leader Paul Nuttall backed his immigration spokesman after his racially-charged tweet sparked controversy.
John Bickley, party’s spokesman and treasurer, re-tweeted a cartoon with the words “If you want a jihadi for a neighbour – vote Labour”.
According to Mr Nuttall, who spoke at his by-election campaign in Stoke-on-Trent earlier today, Mr Bickley has been unaware of the contentious roots of the slogan and has since deleted the controversial tweet and apologised.
“He’s got my support, absolutely, he’s apologised for it,” he said.
He also added: “It wasn’t clever and John’s apologised and he’s taken it down. He’s not a politics anorak and I don’t think he understood the history of that slogan which goes back to the 1960s.”
Twitter users pointed this out by re-tweeting his post with a version of a campaign leaflet from 1964 Smethwick general election.
The slogan was originally used to support the Conservative party and the racist term was substituted by the word “jihadi” in Mr Bickley’s tweet.
“He was mortified by it and he took it down and apologised,” said party’s leader.