Tories urged to delete social media post featuring swearing newsreader

Conservative MPs have called on the party to delete one of its tweets featuring a TV newsreader swearing at a camera.

Maryam Moshiri apologised this week after she gave the middle finger while mistakenly live on air as a BBC news bulletin began on Wednesday.

By Thursday afternoon, the Tories’ social media team leapt on the now viral image to attack the opposition.

They posted the picture on X, formerly Twitter, with the words: “Labour when you ask for their plans to tackle illegal migration.”

But the post may have backfired, with Conservative MPs amongst those calling for it to be taken down.

Chair of the foreign affairs committee, Alicia Kearns, said she was “amazed” the tweet was still up, posting that it was “beneath us”.

She was joined by the former chair of the defence committee, Tobias Ellwood, who simply wrote: “Please delete this post.”

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Labour MP Sarah Owen said on X the outspoken Tory chairman, Lee Anderson, had taken “control of the Tory Twitter account”.

She added: “They’ve clearly given up. A general election can’t come soon enough.”