I need to be more mature says Hitler row MEP

The MEP and councillor at the centre of a row for telling aspiring politicians to look at Adolf Hitler's speaking style has said he needs to be less 'politically naive' and more 'mature' in future.

Bill Etheridge said the result vindicated his claim that it was a 'two horse race' between himself and Mr Austin

Bill Etheridge was embroiled in a storm of criticism after it was revealed he had used the Nazi leader as an example when leading a seminar for budding UKIP politicians in Birmingham.

The West Midlands MEP, elected to Brussels in May, is also a councillor in Dudley representing Sedgley.

Speaking to the Express & Star the 44-year-old denied telling members of Young Independence they should copy Hitler.

It is not the first time he has got into trouble. He was suspended from the Conservative party in 2011 when, as a member of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, he and his wife Star posed with golliwog dolls.

"I need to be less politically naive," he said in an interview with the Express & Star.

"I sold steel for 20 years and I've been an elected politician for just a few months."

Asked if he had been stupid for referencing Hitler at all he said: "I don't think it's stupidity but in the modern political climate there are concerted attacks on people with organisations like the Mail on Sunday who have their own political axe to wield."

He said he had been leading a seminar of '30 to 40' people from UKIP's youth wing and that he had discussed the speaking styles of Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan and Tony Blair as well as Hitler.

He was quoted as describing how Hitler would stay silent for minutes at a time before speaking at rallies in order to get people to pay their full attention.

"It's something teachers do as well to some extent, waiting for quiet," he said. "I wouldn't tell people to copy Hitler. I made it very clear that he was an evil man and a monstrous tyrant. But what I was discussing was his speaking style. Even that I wouldn't tell people to copy. He used the technique to excess. If a politician today stood in silence on stage people would walk out."

Mr Etheridge said he was urging aspiring politicians to speak with 'passion' and without reading from notes.

"Martin Luther King gave voice to extremely high ideals. Ronald Reagan was down to earth. Tony Blair, who I didn't agree with either, convinced people that he was genuine.

"If you're reading from a piece of paper, your words don't sink in."

Mr Etheridge is still a believer in the Campaign Against Political Correctness but says he concentrates on other matters as an MEP.

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The picture of him holding a gollywog came to light again at the weekend as news of the speaking seminar broke.

"I wasn't saying we should bring back golliwogs. I don't care if I never see one again. But I'm of a generation that remembers them just as toys. Over the years and due to political correctness they became offensive. We were just saying you should be able to discuss this in the public sphere without it being offensive.

"I'm still a novice as a politician but I will be more mature in my discourse."

Dudley councillor Kurshid Ahmed said police should investigate Mr Etheridge's comments at the seminar. But West Midlands Police said no complaint has been made.