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Ukip is at the centre of a Twitter storm after a vile tweet linking AIDS to immigrants.

Outraged social media users hit out at Nigel Farage's party after an account claiming to belong to its Cheltenham branch posted a message, which read: "#WorldAIDSDay is a sad day but also a reminder that we must tighten our borders #UKIP immigration."

Following the backlash, a pair of tweets was posted from the account, reading: "My #WorldAIDSDay tweet has got out of hand.

"I didn't mean to offend anyone with HIV or AIDS.

"We need to look beyond this and at our borders.

"This has all been taken out of context.

"Please stop the hate mail."

However, the party later claimed the account was fake, posting a message on Facebook saying it "has nothing to do with the local Branch or the National Party and reflects the views of neither".

The post read in full: "A fake Twitter account has been set up in the name of UKIP Cheltenham that has nothing to do with the local Branch or the National Party and reflects the views of neither.

"Suzanne Evans MEP reported yesterday that there seem (sic) to be a campaign of setting up such accounts to try and discredit UKIP and generate bad press."

But the mystery then deepened when Mirror.co.uk contacted Ukip's Cheltenham branch secretary Martin Leonard to ask him if the @UKIPCheltenham account was genuine.

He replied: "Yes, it is run by the Membership Secretary on behalf of the Branch Committee."

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Yet in a further twist, a Ukip spokesperson echoed the earlier Facebook post which stated the account was NOT genuine.

"It's a fake," he said.

"It was set up three days ago.

"There's been a number of fake accounts set up recently."

When quizzed why Mr Leonard confirmed the account was real, the spokesperson suggested age may have played a part in the confusion.

"I think he's made a mistake here," he said.

"I've spoken to the chairman and the candidate and even before they knew what the story was they said they don't have a Twitter account.

"They have a website and a Facebook and that's it."

He added: "We have a lot of quite elderly people working for us, who may not understand the difference between Facebook and Twitter."