Shapps, who goes under the Twitter handle @grantshapps, has amassed more than 54,000 followers. He has tweeted more than 4,000 times since March 2008 and is following more than 25,000 other Twitter accounts.
Twitter users went on to the micro-blogging website to claim that Shapps has been following and unfollowing them, in an attempt to boost his follower numbers.
Lord Prescott, the former deputy Labour leader, posted on Twitter: “Has anyone else been followed & unfollowed by @grantshapps? #shappsfollowedme. (sic)”
Other users replied to say that the same had happened to them:
Mersey Mal wrote: @johnprescott Is there a support group for I Was Temporarily Followed By Grant Shapps survivors?
Ben Powell wrote: #shappsfollowedme and then he left me – just like all the people he said he’d get houses built for (sic).
Rufus Westwood, replied to Lord Prescott’s tweet: “Yes. Perhaps his bot didnt like what it read. I suspect though, he ws offended I ddnt follow back (sic).”
Shapps’ office declined to comment over whether he uses an auto-follow bot to boost his following.
However, Shapps did post a few retweets yesterday afternoon in good humour:
RT @johnprescott: As Andy Warhol said, in the future everyone will be followed & unfollowed by @grantshapps #shappsfollowedme > my favourite (sic).
