A FORMER Bradford and district chairman of UKIP has resigned from his role as a governor in the NHS amid a row over a twitter account.

Jason Smith, who runs his own sports hypnosis and hypnotherapy business, has stepped down from his role as a Bradford South Governor for Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust.

He had already been suspended from that role pending an investigation, the NHS Trust revealed.

His Daily Holograph account, which used to have the handle @jasonsmithUKIP before it was changed at the beginning of this year, has now been deleted.

It was used to post anti-Muslim jibes, homophobic insults and referred to Naz Shah, MP for Bradford West, as a ‘sicko’.

However, when contacted by the Telegraph & Argus, Mr Smith insisted he had not posted any insulting tweets, stating that other people had access to the account and it had therefore been “compromised by other people.”

One tweet from the account urged German citizens to “take their country back” and another asked followers if Western states should put a stop to “the genocide of white people in South Africa.”

Another tweet claimed the arrest of former EDL leader Tommy Robinson, who was jailed for 13 months for contempt of court in May, was an example of “the establishment trying to engineer a riot to enable them to take away more freedoms and further persecute the libertarian/patriots/Christians.”

When the T&A asked Mr Smith about the tweets, he said it was his account, but other people had access to it and he did not post any of the insulting tweets.

Mr Smith stood as the UKIP candidate for Bradford South in the 2015 General Election and was the party’s Bradford and District chairman until he resigned in August 2016.

“It’s a shared twitter account that I had access to as well,” he explained.

“It has caused me so much stress that I resigned.

“I suspect this twitter account was compromised by other people.

“A lot of people had access to it and the idea was that it was used as a parody news website.”

Mr Smith was asked several times who had access to the account’s login details, but repeatedly said he did not know.

He added: “I never posted anything that’s extreme and anything that’s racist or homophobic.

“Everything is open to interpretation.

“If you look back at the last 15 years I was in UKIP, I was the person who brought all the ethnic minorities into UKIP.

“There was also gay people in there.”

The tweets were brought to the attention of the Telegraph & Argus by Reporting Extremism, a website which monitors and exposes hate speech.

They said Mr Smith “should not be in a position of trust for the multicultural health service, especially in a multicultural city such as Bradford. Very sickening stuff.”

A statement from Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust said: “The Trust has a Clear Code of Conduct on the standards that we expect from Trust governors and clear guidance if these are not upheld.

“In line with our normal practice, we suspended Jason Smith from his role as Governor pending an investigation.

“Jason Smith has since taken the decision to resign from his Governor role with immediate effect.”

According to information released as part of his election campaign, Mr Smith was born and brought up in Bradford and has lived in Clayton Heights/Queensbury for nine years.

He is qualified in business administration and has diplomas in hypnosis and hypnotherapy.