Manchester attack: Rufus Hound backtracks on 'tin foil hat' conspiracy theory tweet

Rufus Hound has come under fire for perpetuating a conspiracy theory on Twitter surrounding the Manchester suicide bomber terror attack.

The comedian quote tweeted a since-deleted tweet that read: "Given that the attacker was known to MI5, the timing seems fortunate for May that an attack ‘slips through’ as Labour are making progress..."

He added to it: "Apologies for mild tinhattedness, but I’ve been thinking the same. Esp. as she was Home Secretary for so long. #reichstagFire," referencing the famous arson at Germany's parliament building in 1933 that helped Hitler's cause.

After being criticised for using his platform (Hound has 1.21m followers) to spread the conspiracy theory, he didn't apologise but backtracked somewhat: "Okay, okay. Look, I’m probably from too cynical, but I struggle believing our establishment is incapable of great evil. If you’re not, sorry.

"I guess, I’m not really alleging it as true, more that I don’t believe our establishment is incapable of such evil. Esp. during an election."

Twitter users were still unimpressed, with one writing: "Are you really sick enough to believe that the UK government would ever deliberately target 8 year old girls. I feel sorry for you."