Cartmel sorry after Brexit attacks appear on its Twitter account

Cartmel racecourse was forced to apologise after "unauthorised" use of its Twitter account caused derogatory pro-Brexit postings to appear on Thursday night.

Two tweets attacked businesswoman and campaigner Gina Miller, who was a panellist on Question Time on BBC1 that evening.

In a statement issued on Friday morning, the course said: "Late last night there was an incident of unauthorised use of the Cartmel racecourse social media account.

"This led to unauthorised tweets being posted and subsequently circulated.

"The tweets were not sent from Cartmel racecourse and do not represent, or in any way reflect, the views of Cartmel racecourse.

"We apologise if these unauthorised social media tweets caused any upset or offence."

Cartmel's social media accounts are not run by the course but by 32West, a public relations and content consultancy firm which said in a subsequent statement on behalf of the course: "An investigation has today been carried out into two rogue social media tweets which were sent from the Cartmel racecourse Twitter account late last night.

32West confirmed in a statement that the tweets 'were not written by any member of the Cartmel racecourse business'Credit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"It has been ascertained that these tweets were sent out by a third party. They were not written by any member of the Cartmel racecourse business – owners, managers or employees – and no member of the Cartmel team was in any way responsible for them being distributed.

"We reaffirm that the views expressed in the tweets in no way reflect the views of Cartmel racecourse and we again apologise for any upset or offence caused."

Geraldine McKay, who took over as manager at Cartmel this summer, would not comment on the tweets or whether the course would continue to use 32West for its public relations and social media output, nor whether the course would apologise directly to Miller.

Jonathan Lee, a director of 32West, would not confirm whether the tweets were sent out by an employee of the Ulverston-based company or whether the account had been hacked.

Ironically, Cartmel racecourse owner Lord Cavendish, a Conservative peer in the House Of Lords, is a renowned supporter of Brexit.

Leave backers and members of parliament Theresa Villiers and Penny Mordaunt visited the course in the famous Brexit battle bus during the 2016 referendum campaign.

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