MPs spent more than 115 days tweeting last year – but who sent the most?

Our publicly elected leaders have spent more than 115 days tweeting in the last year – a total of 2,774 hours – with nearly three-quarters of all MPs now on the social media platform. 

 

A report published by Westminster Public Affairs shows that parliamentarians sent a total of 718,431 Tweets for the 12 months to 28 July – which has accounted for over a third of a regular working year (and therefore more like half a working year for those holiday-loving leaders). 

 

The MP who sent the most tweets is Bradford West Respect representative, Celebrity Big Brother star and sometime presenter for Iran's state-run Press TV George Galloway. He sent out 16,399 tweets or retweets in that time. 

 

Michael Fabricant was the top Tory tweeter, publishing 11,311 times, while Labour MP Karl Turner tweeted 12,577 times. The top Lib Dem tweeter was Tim Farron (12,577). 

 

Some 71 per cent of MPs now use Twitter – a total of 461 individuals, an increase of 350 since January 2010.  It's most popular among Lib Dems, with 82 per cent of the party's MPs signed up, while just 67 per cent of Tories use it. A round 75 per cent of Labour MPs are on Twitter – the party accounted for 47 per cent of all tweets. 

 

Members of the House of Commons are five times more likely to be on the micro-blogging site than Lords, however.