Labour MP Clive Lewis criticised for tweeting 'fake news' poll
Clive Lewis has been criticised for tweeting a "fake poll" after the agency cited in the data denied any involvement with it.
The MP - who some view as the next Labour leader - tweeted a bar chart credited to ICM polling agency.
He said: "Help me get re-elected, and keep the Tories out of Norwich South!"
The poll claims to be based on data from a poll of Norwich South conducted in January 2017.
The data puts the Labour party at 36%, and the Conservatives at 28%, with the Lib Dems trailing behind at 16%.
The piece of campaign material uses this bar chart to claim: "Only a vote for CLIVE LEWIS & LABOUR can STOP THE TORIES in NORWICH SOUTH".
However, it is unclear where this data is from, and some have said it is a "fake news" poll.
ICM's Head of Research, Martin Boon, denied it came from his agency.
He said: "Neither I, nor anyone at @ICMResearch has any knowledge of this poll. Please withdraw our name from it."
@labourlewis Neither I, nor anyone at @ICMResearch has any knowledge of this poll. Please withdraw our name from it.
— Martin Boon (@martinboon) April 26, 2017
@martinboon@labourlewis@ICMResearch Looks like somebody at @UKLabour is making up polling!
— Andrew Young (@_a_y) April 26, 2017
@martinboon@labourlewis@ICMResearch Clive you better remove this fake poll you have put up.
— Crawley (@Tcrawley29) April 26, 2017
@martinboon@labourlewis@ICMResearch So is it dishonesty or icompetence?
— Pete Browne (@Pete4PM) April 26, 2017
The Labour Party Press Office declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Clive Lewis said the "data was from ICM, but it was analysed by Represent.us", and that they are "correcting the labeling issue".
ICM has been contacted for comment.