The Conservative Campaign Headquarters press office account was renamed ‘factcheckUK’ during Tuesday evening’s ITV broadcast in a cynical bid to deceive people.

The popular term for this deception is ‘fake news”.

An abuse of this scale, whereby party propaganda is presented as fact, is a serious breach of both the spirit and letter of the law.

To purport to be a politically neutral fact-checking service using a fake Twitter handle at the very moment the Prime Minister is answering questions on integrity indicated an astonishing lack of political judgment.

Frankly the Foreign Secretary's response on BBC Breakfast Show today (Wed Nov 20) that 'no-one gives a toss' indicates just how much scorn the Tory party has for the concerns of the people of this country and the rule of law.

The Twitter stunt was a deliberate attempt by the national campaign HQ of a political party to mislead the public and a clear breach of electoral law.

I have written to the regulatory body the Electoral Commission to remind them the action clearly breaches section 143 of the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 and have asked they seek an assurance from the Tory Party it would not repeat the behaviour.

I have also written to James Cleverly, chairman of the Tory Party, to institute an inquiry into the incident particularly into who sanctioned this deception.

John Howarth

Labour MEP for South East England