Telford MP David Wright today launched an investigation into how a comment appeared on the his Twitter page branding Conservatives “scum-sucking pigs”.

The Labour MP denied using the words himself and claimed a hacker had got into his Twitter account and changed what he had written. The MP said the incident had left him “very unhappy and upset”.

Mr Wright, who sent out an apology and deleted the Tweet from his page, claimed he had initially sent a Twitter message quoting Barack Obama’s comment during the US presidential election campaign in 2008 that “you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig”.

He added: “I think that local people know that I don’t go in for offensive political comment and the style of discussion on Twitter is edgy and light hearted.

“I can see why some people may be offended by the Barack Obama-style quote but I think it is fairly tame.

“Sadly, it looks like someone has tinkered with my Tweets.

“I want to get to the bottom of this and I have asked Twitter to look into this as a matter of urgency.”

The MP further claimed it was not the first time he had been the victim of a cyber attack by political opponents.

He said that in 2007 someone created a fake website which purported to be run by him under the tagline Red Dave and the site was deleted when Mr Wright’s office complained.

It is not the first time Mr Wright has got into hot water over his Twitter page, however, as last December he used it to make a comment about Telford & Wrekin Council’s press office holding its Christmas party outside the borough.

The comment did not go down well with council leader Councillor Andrew Eade but Mr Wright later said he had just been having a bit of fun.

Commenting on the latest Twitter row centring Mr Wright, Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard said: “It is all very sad and I feel sorry for David.”

By Simon Hardy