Getting Twitter was one of the worst mistakes of my life, Tory MP Philip Davies says

The MP says all his Twitter followers hate him

Philip Davies has fought for men's rights to be recognised (House of Commons)

A Conservative MP has said that getting Twitter was “one of the worst things” he has ever done.

Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley in West Yorkshire, said in a debate in Parliament on Friday that he has “about 16,000 followers” on the service, “all of whom hate me”.

Mr Davies made the light-hearted admission in a parliamentary debate about who should be considered a journalist. He said he was “not entirely convinced” that “any moron on Twitter” should qualify as one under legislation.

The MP has repeatedly made headlines for antagonising liberals, left-wingers, and feminists. Last year he attacked “feminist zealots”, got himself elected to Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee, and tried to derail a bill intending to protect women against domestic violence.

“I’m not entirely sure of the numbers of people who aren’t on Twitter or Facebook, they’re the sensible ones, it seems to me in the country, that aren’t on Twitter and Facebook, but I don’t think there are that many,” Mr Davies told MPs on Friday.

“I’m not on Facebook, but I am on Twitter. I probably regard it as one of the worst things I did in my life, going on Twitter, madam deputy speaker, I have about 16,000 followers all of whom hate me.

“It’s all very interesting what they have to say, I’m sure, but it seems to me rather pointless, to be perfectly honest. They can hurl as much abuse as they like, it’s all very interesting, it doesn’t bother me, but I’m not entirely sure it gets us anywhere.”

In the same speech Mr Davies revealed that he had “always wanted to be a journalist” himself and “actually did the NCTJ course at Sheffield College to be a qualified journalist”.

On Tuesday the deputy speaker Lindsay Hoyle told the Home Affairs Select Committee that MPs were being asked to report all incidents of abuse on social media.

He said initial results of the survey of members showed that women and ethnic minority MPs were the worst targeted by such online abuse.