The Tory website Right Angle — whose directors were exposed by Scrapbook yesterday for their links to a controversial Ukrainian oligarch — appears to be paying money to artificially inflate its follower count on Facebook.

The organisation, whose founders include Conservative MP Robert Halfon, are so desperate to emulate the success of progressive operations such as 38 Degrees and Avaaz that they appear to be purchasing Facebook “likes” in bulk.

With more than 9,000 Facebook likes in the space of a few days then reducing to a trickle, social media industry insiders have confirmed to Scrapbook that this pattern is entirely consistent with the many companies which offer to inflate Facebook likes for a fee.

Despite having a Facebook following likely composed of fake accounts, Right Angle still claim to be a “grassroots community”:

“Right Angle is a grassroots community. We exist to stand up for ordinary families – Britain’s silent majority.”

The claims to stand for “Britain’s silent majority” seem odd given that most of their new likes are from, erm, teenagers living in New Delhi:

Right Angle: standing up for South Asia’s silent majority!