Probe into web firm founded by Shapps dropped

An investigation into a company founded by the Tory chairman, Grant Shapps, has been dropped after "assurances" were given to the Advertising Standards Authority that any use of fake names by the business will be made clear on its website.

It followed an allegation that HowToCorp put false testimonials on its website and that the site misleadingly suggested that the alter ego Michael Green was a real person. Virtually all the company's web pages were offline by the time he made his speech at the Tory conference.