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 the deleting, laying the blame at the door of Elon Musk's X - and claimed that error was affecting multiple accounts.

Twitter/X did eventually reinstate the account at around lunchtime today.

However social media users were quick to ridicule the deletion with many attributing it on the general election defeat. 

Some joked it was because the account had been hacked, while others said it was done to delete the account's history.

The Conservatives Press Office account, CCHQPress, remains operational.

One user wrote: '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. 

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.