‘Twitter tsar’ takes on Ross Noble’s challenge

Labour's 'Twitter tsar' Kerry McCarthy - who has declared that next year's general election will be the first "new media election" - was forced to field a deluge of questions online yesterday after she was targeted by the comedian Ross Noble.

Noble, who has almost 30,000 followers on the social media site Twitter, encouraged his fans to target McCarthy and swamp her with inane questions.

The campaign was part of 'Twitterbombard Tuesday' which Noble launched last week, with the aim of targeting corporations and public figures in a once-a-week blitz. "We bombard daft questions to one tweeter then enjoy the confused replies," he wrote, adding: "Be nice."

Within minutes of yesterday’s bombardment, McCarthy, who is Labour's new media campaigns spokeswoman, was fielding hundreds of questions. They ranged from the serious: "If the government wants to save money and the planet, why don't they switch off some of the numerous unnecessary streetlights?" to the surreal: "Can you tame a crow?"

At first McCarthy appeared confused by the queries, asking: "Am I taking part in an 'ask Kerry silly questions contest', and no-one's told me?". However she eventually answered more than 100 questions in six hours.

McCarthy told the Guardian she thought a lot of the questions were "really funny". She had tried to answer them in the spirit they were intended, she added. "I'm sure they expected a humourless response, because that's the perception a lot of people have of politicians."

Eventually McCarthy announced that she was going to take a break, saying: "I'm off to have my photo taken with Alistair Darling. That’s enough fun for the time being." ·