Intern accidentally hijacks Labour MP Watson's account in 'twit-rape'

An intern pretending to be Labour's Tom Watson accidentally tweeted the MP's 65,000 followers that he was about to be "twit-raped".

The intern, believed to be a woman, put out a message on Mr Watson's account at 12.30pm, saying: "I should log out of my twitter so that my intern doesn't twit-rape me..."

Within minutes, a second tweet went out, saying: "My boss is in a meeting, i've made a terrible mistake, im very sorry everyone, it wasn't meant to be offensive! logging him off now! sorry!"

Twit-raping is hijacking, or using, another person's account to send messages. Half an hour later, Mr Watson, Labour's deputy chairman who led the campaign against News of the World hacking, appears to have returned to the office or been made aware of the messages.

He tweeted: "I sincerely apologise for the recent tweet. A lesson learned for a young intern. She's also very sorry. I will deal with the matter offline."

The hashtag savetheintern was trending this afternoon. Alex Try, of campaign group Interns Anonymous, said: "Would that mistake be made if the intern was a permanent member of staff? Properly trained in the job they are meant to do? I hope this intern is paid at least minimum wage, learns from their mistake and goes on to build a promising career."

Mr Watson could not be contacted.

The intern's wage was not known.