Tories recruit Twitter army to battle Corbyn's backers

Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Photo / AP

Britain's Conservative Party is hiring an army of paid tweeters to take on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's supporters on social media.

Brandon Lewis, the new Tory chairman, is recruiting hundreds of staff across the country in a bid to dramatically increase the party's online presence and marshal groups of volunteers "on the ground" in every constituency.

The attempt to "professionalise" the Tories' campaign operation comes amid fears among senior Tories that the party faces disastrous results in May's local authority elections.

Officials are concerned that hundreds of thousands of Ukip voters could switch to Labour as the Eurosceptic party's vote-share collapses after Britain's Leave vote in the Brexit referendum - allowing Labour to increase its grip on councils across the country.

The shake-up comes after several senior MPs privately warned that significant losses in May could prompt a flurry of formal letters triggering a leadership contest to replace the Prime Minister, Theresa May.

A YouGov poll last week found that May faces defeat in at least three of her flagship London boroughs. A source said Lewis' plans included hiring one professional campaigner for every London borough. In a message to members last week, Lewis said: "Labour and their militant group Momentum want to stop our progress."

A new army of paid campaign managers would "take the fight to Labour on social media" and "build a strong group of dedicated volunteers in every constituency", he wrote.

Corbyn's success on social media is partly down to the growth of Momentum, the grassroots movement that aided his campaign to become Labour leader.

Lewis first disclosed plans for the new campaign managers in individual constituencies in a message to members this month seeking donations to help fund their salaries.