Harman: my Twitter account was 'hacked'
Updated on 25 February 2010
Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman's Twitter account was hacked and a message sent to her former opposite on the Conservative benches, Alan Duncan, she tells MPs.
Ms Harman did not tell MPs what the "bogus Tweet" had said, but said: "I wouldn't ever send a Tweet like that."
Labour MP Janet Anderson urged the government to look into "fake" Twitter accounts in the names of north-west MPs during questions to Ms Harman in her role as leader of the House of Commons.
In response she promised the "see what government minister might be able to do" about what she described as a "real problem".
She then told MPs: "In fact my own Tweet account was hacked into this week - the hon lady doesn't know this, this is not a planted question - and a Tweet was purportedly sent by me widely, which I can assure everyone was not from me.
"And I actually got a response to that bogus Tweet from the former shadow leader of the House who's now the (shadow) prisons minister (Tory Alan Duncan).
"I've got to get back to him and tell him it wasn't from me - I wouldn't ever send a Tweet like that."
Ms Harman later wrote on her Twitter page: "Last tweet genuinely from me was about Commons reform. Now changed password."
Mr Duncan later wrote on his Twitter page: "I did get a message in Harriet's name, so I sent a friendly message back by text. A bit confusing, and all in my first week on Twitter."
The Foreign Office also released a statement asking people to report "fraudulent emails" claiming to be from Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
"These emails ask recipients for their personal details so that they can receive funds from a - non-existent - programme to alleviate the global economic crisis," the statement said.
"These emails are a scam. If you receive such an email please report it to your local fraud crime office."
