London mayor Boris Johnson has apologised for comments he made in an interview in which he blamed Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough stadium disaster.

In the article the mayor of London had claimed that “drunken” Reds supporters had “mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground”.

Johnson made the comments in an article in The Spectator in 2004 and expressed his regret about them a day after a report was released in which Liverpool fans were found blameless in the tragedy.

“I’m very, very glad that this report does lay to rest the false allegation that was made at the time about the behaviour of those fans,” Johnson told reporters.

“I was very, very sorry in 2004 that the Spectator did carry an editorial that partially repeated those allegations, I apologised then and I apologise now.

“I do hope the families of the 96 victims will take some comfort from this report and that they can reach some sort of closure.”

Since the release of the report, Prime Minister David Cameron declared he was “profoundly sorry for this double injustice that has been left uncorrected for so long” and apologises also came from the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband.