A TORY MP who sparked outrage with a tweet about Ukrainian refugees has deleted his Twitter account following the row.
Daniel Kawczynski (below), the Conservative MP for Shrewsbury, found himself at the centre of an online storm when he slammed the “illiterate and immoral” calls from opposition parties to allow more families fleeing Russian bombs into the UK.
He said the UK should be supporting Ukrainians in “frontline states” such as Poland and Romania.
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Speaking to the Shrewsbury Star, he said Twitter is “not a platform for me”.
He added: “I do not think that Twitter is an optimum way in which politicians should communicate with the electorate.
"Careful press releases and the recording of Parliamentary debates is sufficient as I do not have confidence in Twitter. It has allowed a huge amount of denigration and disinformation."
He has insisted that his tweet was misinterpreted and used a column in the local paper to clarify his remarks.
He wrote: “The priority for our government must and should be to financially support countries like Poland to help in looking after these millions of citizens who have fled tyranny.”
Among online commentators decrying his comments was LBC host James O’Brien, who described Kawczynski as “the second most stupid politician I've ever interviewed”.
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Kawczynski has been at the centre of major controversies before, including making an apology in the House of Commons in 2021 for bullying members of his own staff.
He said: “I have reflected on my behaviour, I accept it constituted bullying and as such was highly inexcusable. The circumstances were stressful for the staff who were assisting the committee and for me.”
Kawczynski, who was born in Warsaw, Poland, was also fiercely criticised for attending an event which also featured the far-right politicians Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister and the ex-deputy Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Salvini.
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