Cambridge student poses as Tory MP on Twitter

Will the real Jill Mortimer please stand up? A Cambridge student has hoodwinked the world of Twitter, claiming to be the Tory MP

Mortimer has served as MP for Hartlepool since May 2021Roger Harris Photography/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

by Sebastian Topan

This article is 2 years old

Thursday April 28 2022, 6:37pm

Pandemonium broke out on Twitter last Thursday (21/04) as several fake accounts claimed to be the MP for Hartlepool, Jill Mortimer.

Alex Cunningham, a Labour MP, was even fooled into thinking one of the accounts was real.

Behind one of the bogus Twitter accounts was a Cambridge student.

The student, Jack (not his real name), told Varsity: “I was the third account to join. I was waiting for my clothes to be done in the dryer and saw Labour MP for Stockton North, Alex Cunningham, challenging multiple Twitter accounts claiming to be Jill Mortimer. I thought it would be funny to join.”

When asked whether they received a big response on Twitter, Jack replied: “Yes, a lot! I started the hashtag #WeAreJillMortimerMP and received six followers. There were so many Jill Mortimers it became hard to keep up. Some are still going.”

This Jill Mortimer discourse is the best thing I’ve ever seen 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/ex0Do8lHX4
- WILL LLOYD (@willgeorgelloyd) April 21, 2022

By Friday morning, one of the accounts claimed they had even applied for a blue tick to verify themselves as the real Jill Mortimer.

‘Some people fear me’, notorious Cambridge TikToker admits

Jack’s account survived eight hours before Twitter suspended it and Jill Mortimer’s office has now confirmed she does not have a Twitter account.

“No one was genuinely trying to pretend to be Jill Mortimer,” Jack said, “It was making fun of her inactivity in the run up to local elections.”

Local elections will take place across the country next Thursday (05/05).

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