David Irving says: 'I have no remorse'

The historian David Irving, who was imprisoned in Austria for denying the Holocaust happened, said yesterday he has no regrets about the views he has expressed and felt no remorse.

Mr Irving, who has questioned whether Jews were sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz, claimed that "Stalinist legislation" had led to his three-year jail sentence for denying the Holocaust in a 1989 speech.

Speaking for the first time after being expelled from Austria following his release from prison, he told the BBC there was "no evidence" that Hitler was involved in the Holocaust or that he wanted to exterminate the Jews.

Politicians and Jewish leaders have questioned the BBC's decision to give him a platform for his views. Lord Janner, of the World Jewish Congress, said: "I believe the man should not be given publicity and his memory should fade."

But the 68-year-old insists he is not a "Holocaust denier" and says he has found evidence that has not been unearthed until now. "For the last 15 years, I have made no bones at all about the fact that the Nazis killed millions of Jews," he said.