Twitter row MP calls for probe on website
Wednesday 17th February 2010, 11:50AM GMT.
The most recent Tweet on Mr Wright's Twitter page
Shropshire MP David Wright today said he would be seeking a meeting with ministers after claiming his Twitter site was hacked.
Mr Wright said he wanted to have talks over the general protection of blog sites with the MPs after he apologised for a message branding Conservatives “scum-sucking pigs” appeared on his page on the site – the work , he claims, of a stranger who has hacked into his page.
He has written to Twitter asking bosses to investigate.
Mr Wright said: “My Twitter account has been hacked into and changed. This is not the first time I have been the victim of a cyber attack.
“Two years ago a fake website was set up purporting to be me and we had to have it taken down and my laptop was stolen before Christmas from the House of Commons.
“I have demanded that Twitter provide me with the identity of whoever has inputted into my site.
“I will make a further statement when that information is available and I will be seeking a meeting with ministers to discuss the general protection of blog sites.”
Mr Wright was one of a number of Labour MPs who used Twitter to respond to a poster campaign launched on Monday by Tory leader David Cameron in which he tried to reach out to former Labour voters with the slogan “I’ve never voted Tory before but…”
A message went out on Mr Wright’s Twitter feed on Monday afternoon saying: “ivenevervotedtory because you can put lipstick on a scum-sucking pig but it’s still a scum-sucking pig. And cos they would ruin Britain.”
Later Mr Wright sent out an apology with the toned-down comment: “IvenevervotedTory because you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig. With apologies.”
He claimed his words, quoting Barack Obama during the US presidential election campaign in 2008, had been tampered with .
But Tory chairman Eric Pickles is demanding answers from the Labour whip and said it was “not credible” that the Tweet had been altered and that Mr Wright had repeatedly called Tories “scum” in the past.
By Lisa Rowley
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For goodness sake why is this a story again today? The tory party say that twitter accounts can not be hacked into – they can! lots of people on the back of this story have said that they have had there twitter accounts hacked into!
Like many people in Telford – I have had some dealing with Mr Wright – because he helped me with a housing issue. – he is a normal man doing is hardest for Telford.
If the tories won his seat – then im sure that posh boy Biggins who does not live in Telford would be good for the tory press and media but not good for people like me who live in working class areas. – this story does not add anything to the debate.
I think that if another Shropshire MP (tory) had this problem there would no fuss!
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@ heaher
The issue isn’t that Twitter accounts can’t be hacked into, it is that he said his tweet was altered after he typed it, which IS impossible. It even says so on Twitter’s own help page!
He’s a Minister, he appears to have made a stupid comment (and probably breached the Ministerial Code while doing so) and then seems to have come up with an implausible explanation.
I also can’t believe that you honestly think there would be no fuss if a Tory MP’s Twitter page had carried an abusive tweet like that aimed at Labour. Seriously?? Labour would have been all over it like a shot and calling for the MP’s head.
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He posted the “pig” Tweet at 4.30pm. He deleted it an hour later. So, inside that time-frame, the hacker must have got into his account, deleted his original tweet and replaced it with the “scum-sucking” version. That’s the only kind of “editing” that can take place in Twitter – posts can’t be tinkered with once made or moved out of sequence.
For some reason, Wright failed to notice that his tweet had been replaced by the new version, and no-one who followed his feed noticed two different versions appear. Alas, there is no trace of the original version anywhere (e.g. on caches of feeds on other sites, etc).
He was also unaware of the hacking despite Tories re-tweeting the “scum-sucking” comment back at him, and he made some goading responses thinking the fuss was just about the “pig” reference. He did, though, decide to the delete Tweet anyway and make a general apology.
Only the following morning, when he realised the controversy hadn’t died down, did it dawn on him that the complaints hadn’t just been about the “pig” reference, but that the words “scum-sucking” had been added to the now-deleted fake Tweet which had replaced his original Tweet. At this point he announced to the world that he had been hacked.
And if you believe that…
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Barholomew – No, I don’t believe it either. Alwsys voted Labour but not this time…
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