'Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters': Probe is launched into hastily deleted UK Civil Service tweet after Boris Johnson gives press briefing about Dominic Cummings

An investigation has tonight been launched after an 'unauthorised' message was posted on the civil service's Twitter account which appeared to take a swipe at the UK government.   

The UK Civil Service Twitter account, which is verified and followed by more than 240,000 people, was used to tweet out the message: 'Arrogant and offensive. Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?'

The now-deleted message, which had been liked and retweeted thousands of times, was posted as Prime Minister Boris Johnson finished his daily coronavirus press conference - in which he vehemently defended under-fire aide Dominic Cummings.  

Mr Cummings, said to be one of the key figures behind the government's 'Stay at Home' message, is accused of breaking the coronavirus lockdown by twice travelling 270 miles from London to Durham. 

It is not yet clear if the account was hacked prior to the tweet being posted.

But the Cabinet Office says it has now launched an investigation. 

Twitter users have today been left dumbfound after the official account for the UK's Civil Service was seemingly used to take a swipe at the government in a tweet which featured the phrase 'truth twisters'

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The message was sent out as Prime Minister Boris Johnson finished his daily coronavirus press conference at Downing Street (pictured)

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Mr Cummings (pictured), is said to be one of the key figures behind the government's 'Stay at Home' message, is accused of breaking the coronavirus lockdown by twice travelling 270 miles from London to Durham

The Cabinet Office has this evening promised to investigate the 'unauthorised tweet' from the UK Civil Service's Twitter account

The tweet on the UK Civil Service's Twitter account was quickly deleted and replaced with the message 'Sorry, that page doesn't exist'

In a tweet this evening the Cabinet Office said: 'An unauthorised tweet was posted on a government channel this evening. The post has been removed and we are investigating the matter.'

The original message prompted responses from a number of confused Twitter users, as well as those who celebrated it. 

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling offered to pay a 'year's salary' to the person who sent the tweet.

She said: 'When you find out who it was, let us know. I want to give them a year's salary.'

Another to comment was Guardian columnist and left-wing author Owen Jones, who responded by laughing at the Tweet.  

Another user, Marcus Thomas, replied: 'Give whoever did this a medal.'

One Twitter user simply said: 'Brilliant!'

Others were more interested in the origins of the Tweet, with one suggesting the person behind the message was set to get their 'P45 in the morning'.

It is not yet clear if the account had been hacked prior to the message being posted. 

This evening, Boris Johnson refused to bow to public and political pressure to sack Mr Cummings amid rising fury over multiple alleged lockdown breaches by the top Downing Street power-broker.  

In a sign of the scope of the political crisis the Prime Minister faced television cameras for only the third time since his own brush with the killer pandemic to mount a broad-spectrum defence of his chief of staff at the end of a bruising weekend during the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Johnson took the daily Downing Street news conference as a late replacement for Housing Minister Robert Jenrick, who himself has faced criticism for seeing out the lockdown at a home in Herefordshire, 170 miles from his Newark constituency.

But despite ten Tory backbenchers demanding the scalp of his closest adviser and the mastermind of the Brexit Vote Leave campaign, Mr Johnson backed the divisive Machiavellian figure of Mr Cummings over revelations he twice travelled 270 miles from London to Durham while the public were told to stay at home.   

Mr Cummings was in Downing Street for more than five hours this afternoon, fuelling speculation he would quit, as the first cracks in Tory unity appeared.

Nine Conservative backbenchers demanded his head after allegations of the second trip north, in April, emerged in today's Sunday Mirror and Observer newspapers.

Mr Johnson said tonight he had 'extensive face-to-face' talks with Mr Cummings today, saying his close associate had 'acted responsibly, legally and with integrity'.

He added: 'I think he followed the instincts of any father and any parent, and I don't mark him down for that.'

He added that 'some' of the allegations about Dominic Cummings' behaviour during self-isolation were 'palpably false' but did not elaborate.

He also declined to answer whether his chief of staff, as reported, drove to the picturesque village of Barnard's castle when such outdoor excursions were banned for the public. 

Mr Johnson insisted it was 'absolutely responsible' for Mr Cummings to to travel to Durham to self-isolate.

'The advice makes it absolutely clear that if you have particular childcare issues then that is a factor that has to be taken into account and when I look at what actually happened, Dominic Cummings and his family self-isolated for 14 days and that is what you've got to do,' he said.

'And there was a risk that if they both went under, in such a way to be unable to care for their child, then they might have needed the help of relatives living nearby who could come in a socially distanced way.

'As it happened that was not necessary for medical reasons I don't want to go into.

'But that was the risk, and I think it was a real risk and I think it was absolutely responsible of Dominic Cummings to see the risk to his family and to see the risk to his child and to take steps to avert it, and that's what he did.

'That in no way changes the guidance or the advice.'

Earlier Nicola Sturgeon had weighed in, calling for Mr Cummings to quit his post, drawing a comparison to the resignation of Catherine Calderwood as Scotland's chief medical officer after she visited her second home twice earlier in the crisis.

Ms Sturgeon, who initially declined to sack Ms Calderwood, tweeted: 'I know it is tough to lose a trusted adviser at the height of crisis, but when it's a choice of that or integrity of vital public health advice, the latter must come first. That's the judgment I and, to her credit, Catherine Calderwood reached. PM and Cummings should do likewise.'

Senior ministers have this weekend allied around the Machiavellian figure, insisting he was acted as a concerned parent and broke no rules when he went north in late March.

But last night the Downing Street adviser was rocked by fresh claims of flouting the strict national guidelines from two more witnesses, which whipped up a further frenzy for him to be sacked.

Steve Baker, a former Brexit minister and a senior hardline Brexiteer like Mr Cummings, broke cover to demand the Prime Minister 'take back control' of events squirming from his grasp.

Mr Baker told Sky News that Mr Cummings' career had always 'created an awful lot of collateral damage', including the Brexit campaign, adding: 'He is not always right and he certainly isn't indispensable'.

'If he doesn't resign, we'll just keep burning through Boris's political capital at a rate we can ill afford in the midst of this crisis,' he said.

'It is very clear that Dominic travelled when everybody else understood Dominic's slogans to mean ''stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives''.

'And I think mums and dads who very much care about their children and who have been forgoing the childcare of their extended family will wonder why he has been allowed to do this.

'I really just don't see, as we approach the Prime Minister (appearing) at the liaison committee on Wednesday, how this is going to go away unless Dominic goes.'

Simon Hoare, the Tory North Dorset MP and Northern Ireland Select Committee chairman later added his voice to the call, tweeting: 'With the damage Mr Cummings is doing to the Government's reputation he must consider his position.

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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: 'This was a test of the Prime Minister and he has failed it.'

'Lockdown has had its challenges for everyone. It's his cavalier ''I don't care; I'm cleverer than you'' tone that infuriates people. He is now wounding the PM/Govt & I don't like that.'  

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: 'This was a test of the Prime Minister and he has failed it.

'It is an insult to sacrifices made by the British people that Boris Johnson has chosen to take no action against Dominic Cummings.

'The public will be forgiven for thinking there is one rule for the Prime Minister's closest adviser and another for the British people.

'The Prime Minister's actions have undermined confidence in his own public health message at this crucial time.

'Millions were watching for answers and they got nothing. That's why the Cabinet Secretary must now launch an urgent inquiry.'