West Yorkshire Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison should stand down now, according to the man who chaired his police authority until a fortnight ago.
Mark Burns-Williamson resigned as chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Authority on 7 October to stand in the forthcoming Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
Sir Norman Bettison was at the Hillsborough match as a spectator
On Tuesday Today, he said Sir Norman should go in the light of new information about his role in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster.
Mr Burns-Williamson was referring to shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle's claims, made in the Commons yesterday, that Sir Norman revealed he had been asked to help "concoct" South Yorkshire Police's version of events.
She used parliamentary privilege to make the allegations which were based on new evidence from a witness who discussed the disaster with Sir Norman.
Ms Eagle, a Merseyside MP, alleged Sir Norman was behind a "black propaganda" campaign.
Mr Burns-Williamson, who is now Labour's candidate to become West Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner, said: "In light of the new evidence given in Parliament yesterday I feel Sir Norman Bettison should stand down now in the best interests of West Yorkshire Police."
Sir Norman was a chief inspector with South Yorkshire Police at the time of the disaster.
He attended the match at Sheffield Wednesday's ground as a spectator but, after the disaster, he was involved in the subsequent force investigation.
The police authority has referred Sir Norman to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which is investigating his role.
The chief, who has always denied any wrong-doing, has also announced he plans to retire next year.
Mr Burns-Williamson said the authority decided it was right for Sir Norman to step down next year rather than be suspended and then wait for the IPCC to report which could take some time.
He said: "But the latest allegations made by Maria Eagle MP in Parliament yesterday have made it clear that there are new and extremely serious claims against him.
"These allegations need to be investigated by the IPCC.
"I believe these continued allegations are now becoming too much of a distraction for West Yorkshire Police and for the chief constable.
"It is also clear that public confidence in West Yorkshire Police is being affected which Sir Norman Bettison himself has worked very hard to improve in recent years.
"At the core of our judicial system is the notion of innocent until proven guilty, and it is extremely important that the IPCC or any other investigation is allowed to get to the whole truth and that the proper legal processes are allowed to unfold for Sir Norman just as they would for anyone else.
"But my priority is, and would have to be if elected, the effective working of West Yorkshire Police in the service of the public and any major distraction from this must be addressed.
"I believe it has now reached that stage and therefore Sir Norman Bettison should stand down immediately while the IPCC investigations continue.
"There has got to be justice for the victims of Hillsborough and their families, and we have also got to uphold West Yorkshire Police's credibility and standing for the public and beyond."
On Monday, Ms Eagle quoted from a letter from John Barry, written in 1998 to a solicitor for the Hillsborough Family Support Group, which was copied to Ms Eagle in 2009.
Ms Eagle said Mr Barry was studying part-time at Sheffield Business School when Sir Norman talked about his involvement in the investigation.
She told MPs: "Here we have an account of a contemporaneous conversation in which Norman Bettison boasted he is engaged in a South Yorkshire Police plot to fit up the Liverpool fans and deflect blame from the force.
"That is indeed what happened subsequently, so what Sir Norman denies in public he boasts about in private conversations."
Sir Norman, who has announced he will retire in March, faces two investigations by the IPCC.
The senior officer was referred to the IPCC over claims that he gave misleading information in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster and that he tried to influence West Yorkshire Police Authority's decision-making process in relation to the referral.
The Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke used a debate on the Hillsborough Independent Panel's report yesterday to call for Sir Norman to be suspended.
The Special Committee of the West Yorkshire Police Authority is due to meet again on Wednesday to discuss Sir Norman's situation.
The candidates to be the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire are Mark Burns-Williamson (Labour); Geraldine Mary Carter (Conservative); Cedric Mark Christie (Independent); and Andrew Clive Glover Marchington (Liberal Democrats).
Mr Barry, who was at the match in 1989, told ITV Calendar News: "Norman Bettison stood opposite me and said 'I've been asked by senior officers to pull together the South Yorkshire Police evidence of the public inquiry and we're going to try and concoct a story that all the Liverpool fans were drunk and that we were afraid they were going to force down the gates so we decided to open them'.
"I was absolutely astounded. He knew I'd been there. I was in the seats immediately above where people were being crushed and people were dying. I was astounded he said this to me."
Mr Barry said it was never mentioned again and Sir Norman's tone was "matter-of-fact".
He said he did not report this earlier because of the trauma he suffered after the disaster and also because he was afraid of not being believed.
But he added: "And I think also it's got to be, I have to admit, I must have had some fear of what South Yorkshire Police, and Norman Bettison in particular, would do. Would they seek retribution?"