MP Rob Wilson in accidental porn link tweet

Rob Wilson's tweet was quickly removed when the mistake was noticed

A Conservative MP has surprised his Twitter followers by inadvertently posting a link to a pornography site.

Reading East MP Rob Wilson had meant to direct users to a blog post discussing a BBC interview with Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

He said Conservative Campaign HQ (CCHQ) sent him a shortened link to make it easier to tweet but it instead linked to the X-rated site.

Mr Wilson admitted the incident had caused him "some embarrassment".

The tweet was supposed to direct followers to a post by political blogger Guido Fawkes about complaints stemming from the BBC interview with Mr Duncan Smith.

Last character missing

The minister was challenged to survive on £53 a week by benefits claimant David Bennett on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday.

The wrong link appeared on Mr Wilson's Twitter feed, but was quickly removed when the mistake was noticed.

Mr Wilson, the parliamentary private secretary to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, said: "Somehow a shortened link appeared on a tweet which didn't direct followers to where it intended to.

"It has caused me some embarrassment, but CCHQ have issued an apology which I accept and, as far as I'm concerned, that's the end of the matter."

A CCHQ spokesman said: "We apologise to Rob Wilson for our mistake in passing him a shortened link with the last character missing.

"This resulted in a quite different website to the one intended being linked from the tweet."