ACTOR Ralf Little has said he has was suspended from Twitter after changing his account to mimic the Conservative Party press office.

The Tories came under fire for rebranding one of their official Twitter accounts as a "fact-checking service" during last night's televised election debate.

Twitter warned that a repeat of the incident would result in "decisive corrective action".

However, several celebrities have since re-branded their verified accounts.

Royle Family actor Ralf Little changed his name to "Conservative Party Press Orifice" and the description to "Not a fact checker. Or the Conservative Press Office".

Ralf Little was suspended by Twitter – but the Tories have been given a warning

May seem weird for us to say this but, if we’re honest, we reckon @jeremycorbyn was the clear winner. Pay no attention to misleading accounts like the one below. https://t.co/BoOz6ps7DD — Conservative Press Orifice (@RalfLittle) November 19, 2019

He told LBC's James O'Brien: "Just been logged out of my Twitter account without explanation. Assume I've been suspended. Which is fine. But only if the @CCHQPress account is suspended for the same thing. Please continue to press the issue with Twitter in my absence."

He has since been able to log back on to his account, but complained he was given no explanation for the suspension.

I’m back on.



Thread-



4 hours unable to log in to my account. No explanation, no email, nothing. My account still live. Password resets didn’t work, links went nowhere. Suddenly I get an email, “press to login” & I’m back. Don’t know what happened but there are 3 possibilities- — Conservative Press Orifice (@RalfLittle) November 20, 2019

He was not the only verified celebrity to rebrand his account.

Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker changed his account to mimic factcheckUK, as did The Thick Of It and Veep creator Armando Iannucci.

Charlie Brooker's new-look Twitter profile

The Electoral Commission – the official elections watchdog – issued a warning following the incident, saying voters were entitled to expect "transparency and integrity" from campaigners.

However, senior party figures brushed off the controversy, saying it was part of their "instant rebuttal" mechanism to challenge "nonsense" claims made during the debate.

In a statement, Twitter said: "Twitter is committed to facilitating healthy debate throughout the UK General Election.

"We have global rules in place that prohibit behaviour that can mislead people, including those with verified accounts.

"Any further attempts to mislead people by editing verified profile information – in a manner seen during the UK election debate – will result in decisive corrective action."