Tweets are all mine says MP accused of using a ghost writer

A London MP today denied claims that his Twitter output was "blatantly ghost written" by a researcher.

Hammersmith Labour MP Andrew Slaughter, the shadow justice minister, was embroiled in a row after rivals noticed uncanny similarities between his tweets and those of aide Imran Ahmed.

Some were said to be identical and clearly sent from the same computer, by the same person.

Last week, Mr Slaughter, 50, praised legal advice group Justice for All "who are doing a great job" under Twitter account name @HammersmithAndy. Moments later the same tweet appeared under the account imranahmed1978. On another occasion, HammersmithAndy praised an article on a Left-wing website and an identical comment then appeared on imranahmed1978's account.

Chelsea and Fulham Conservative MP Greg Hands claimed Mr Slaughter had used a ghost writer. "President Barack Obama manages to write his own tweets so why can't this Labour MP do the same?" he asked. Hammersmith Conservatives published a selection and asked: "Could it be that Imran is writing his boss's tweets?"

Mr Slaughter said there was an innocent explanation. "I think that Imran simply put out the same tweet to his own followers so that more people would see them."