Comic Relief tweet lands MP with £15,000 bill

A LABOUR MP who pledged to donate £1 for every person who retweeted a charity message has ended up with a bill for nearly £15,000.

• Fiona MacTaggart pledges £1 for every retweet

• Over 14,000 RTs in 30 minutes forces Labour MP to call charity bid to a halt

MacTaggart, MP for Slough, wrote on Twitter promising to give money for each RT between 8pm and 9pm yesterday.

But the Glasgow-born politician got more than she bargained for when her post had been republished over 14,000 in the space of half an hour.

She then put out another tweet calling users to stop as the number of retweets continued to climb.

But MacTaggart stuck to her pledge, and will now donate £14,268 to Comic Relief, which took place last night.

“I will give £1.00 to Comic relief for every retweet of this message before 9pm,” MacTaggart’s initial message said.

Some twitter users poured scorn on her offer, saying she would claim the amount back on expenses, while others expressed concern at whether she could afford the amount.

“Ok stop now I owe comic relief £14,268. Phew! Cheque soon if you don’t believe me check with comic relief,” MacTaggart then posted.

Comic Relief raised over £75 million last night, beating a record haul of £74.3 million set in 2011, although the total will rise as donations continue to pour in.