Labour Party Owl tweet: Press Team account promised to give everyone their own bird

The party later admitted it had been hacked

An owl sits in Tokyo, Japan. (Keith Tsuji/Getty Images)

It looked as if the Labour Party were attempting to secure the votes of Harry Potter fans on Thursday afternoon, when its press team tweeted that “Everybody should have his own owl.”

The Labour Party Press Team deleted the bizarre tweet, and later admitted that it was not intended to launch an inventive new policy but was posted by hacker.

But before the admission, another message was posted taking advantage of the rare opportunity to make own puns, by gently informing users that the "head turning policy" was “no longer going to take flight. #tweettwoo”.

It is unclear whether the follow-up post was sent by a member of the press team trying to jokingly rectify the situation, or by the owl-obsessed hacker.

The Labour Party refused to comment on whether the original tweet was posted by a team member or a person outside the party.

The message comes nearly a month after the third anniversary of Ed Balls Day, which marks the moment the party’s shadow Chancellor accidentally tweeted his own name.

Earlier in the day, Labour Party leader Ed Miliband acknowledged he had a “tough fight” to return Labour to power, and launched welfare reform proposals which would see unemployed youngsters stripped of state handouts unless they agree to training in vital skills.