When Slough MP Fiona MacTaggart sent out the tweet: "I will give £1.00 to Comic relief for every retweet of this message before 9pm" she probably didn’t expect to get 14,268 retweets, especially considering she posted it at 8.25pm.

35 minutes later and, as eagle-eyed readers will have inferred, she will now donate £14,268 to Comic Relief. “I knew it would be a lot but it was more than I expected," Ms MacTaggart said, "I had expected to give around £10,000 but there you go, it was a risk I took". The politician said she wanted to come up with an interesting way to encourage others on Twitter to donate to Comic Relief. "Someone from Australia retweeted it and said she gave 30 Australian dollars so that's rather wonderful". She added: "The thing about Comic Relief is about being quirky about giving. The first time I did any support for Comic Relief I was a teacher and I taught for a day dressed up as a chicken." Of her donation she said: "It is a pretty big chunk from my savings but I can afford it."

Joanna PageJoanna Page sports a red nose

Her tweet didn’t just bring about a hefty sum for the annual charity, it also conjured up political ribbing, with many Twitter users saying that MacTaggart would only claim the donation on her expenses. "So sad so many people said this. I won't" she retorted.