The Conservative Party's social media profile is DELETED after the general election defeat - but Tories says it wasn't their fault
The Conservative Party's Twitter profile was deleted today following the general election - but the Tories insisted its disappearance was not their fault.
Social media users on X, formerly Twitter, were stunned to see the account, which was started in 2008 and has 629,000 followers, missing this morning.
But the Conservatives' press team said it had played no part in their online presence vanishing.
Instead they laid the blame at the door of Elon Musk's X - and claimed the same error was affecting multiple accounts.
By lunchtime it had returned, together with all of the posts the site had put up throughout its history.
But it was too late to stop social media users from ridiculing what had happened.
Some joked it was because the account had been hacked, while others said it was done to delete the account's history.
Social media users on X, formerly Twitter, were stunned to see the account, which was started in 2008 and has 629,000 followers, missing this morning
Social media users were quick to ridicule the deletion with many attributing it on the general election defeat
Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty leave 10 Downing Street following the Conservative Party's defeat in the general election
MailOnline contacted both the Conservative Party and Twitter for a response on the incident.
One social media user joked: 'Either this is the biggest sulk in UK political history... or they gave Liz Truss the admin job out of pity.'
Another user commented: 'Have they joined the Reform Party or something? (laughing face emoji)'
The account's deletion comes after the Conservative Party suffered their worst ever result in a UK general election winning only 121 seats.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose brief, disastrous time in office led to a slump in Tory support from which it never recovered, was ejected from the Commons.
A host of other big beats and cabinet ministers, including Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and former minister Sir Jacob-Rees Mogg all lost their seats.
Sir Keir Starmer's landslide majority of 172 was just short of the 179 won by Tony Blair in 1997.
The Conservative Party's accounts deletion account comes after the party were accused of using the press Twitter account to mislead voters during a general election debate on June 26.
Sir Keir Starmer's landslide over the Conservatives was short of the 179 majority won by Tony Blair in 1997
The Conservatives Press Office account, CCHQPress, remained operational
Conservative Party HQ faced accusations of misleading the public by rebranding its official press account on X as 'Tax Check UK' while Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer debated on the BBC last month
Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter/X, has previously called the website the home of free speech
Conservative Party HQ faced accusations of misleading the public by rebranding its official press account on X as 'Tax Check UK' while Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer debated on the BBC.
While CCHQ does include 'by the Conservatives' in the profile's bio, some claimed it would be possible for users to see its posts without reading the description.
The account rebrand attracted criticism by fact checking website Full Fact, which in a statement on X said: 'We've written to @Conservatives to ask them to remove the 'Tax Check UK' rebrand of @CCHQPress. This misrepresents posts on the account as an impartial fact checking service. Voters deserve better.'
Meanwhile Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter/X, has previously called the website the home of free speech.
Since Mr Musk took over Twitter – as it was then known – in late 2022, he has loosened content moderation on the site and allowed more controversial material on the platform, as part of his support of 'absolute free speech'.
Since his takeover, it has been reported that the platform has seen substantial revenue decline as advertisers have abandoned it over concerns about Mr Musk's belief in 'absolute free speech' and his tolerance of more controversial content.
It has led the company to turn to subscription options – including X Premium, which enables users to pay to be verified – in order to open up new income streams.
