Twitter causes problems for Tory whips ahead of the dissolution of Parliament

Next week will see the dissolution of Parliament and the official start of the election campaign. With some MPs destined never to return to the House of Commons, offices are shut down and the keys to the country are handed over to the civil service for six or so weeks.

So from 00:01 on Monday 30 March, there are no Members of Parliament and consequently they have to give up the title ‘Member of Parliament’ or ‘MP’. Nothing can convey the impression they are MPs, causing a major headache for the hundreds of members who have the initials in their Twitter name.

Techno savvy Tory whips have been forced to issue guidance on how to deal with this online technicality:

‘If your website, Twitter account, Facebook page etc. refer to you as an MP (on their pages or in the address or in the handle) make sure you have either set up alternatives to use from Monday 30th March at 00:01 until polling day, or frozen the account, or published the necessary disclaimer making it clear you are not an MP during the Dissolution period’

Mr S suspects that this advice would have been more useful if it had been issued a few months ago in order for MPs to pick up anywhere near a decent – and electorally useful – online following on any new account.