A would-be MP got off to an inauspicious start when he got the name of the last Chancellor of the Exchequer wrong in a tweet.

William Berry was announced as the Brexit Party’s candidate for Watford last week, and in an interview with the Observer last week showed a conciliatory side when he said he had many Remainer friends and understood their point of view.

But he found himself in trouble on Twitter when he attacked Dominic Grieve MP, who has campaigned for a second referendum on leaving the EU, as the “worst chancellor ever” above a picture of Philip Hammond, who resigned as Chancellor when Boris Johnson was selected to become Prime Minister.

Dominic Grieve, who is MP for Beaconsfield, in Bucks, is a former Attorney General and Advocate General for Northern Ireland but has never been Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Watford Observer:

Watford Labour responded to Mr Berry's tweet and took a screenshot of it before the initial tweet was deleted

Some ridiculed him for the mistake including the Watford Labour party who asked ‘if he was okay’ also describing the tweet as 'hilarious'.

Mr Berry defended himself, saying: “I was tweeting on my phone while at a family engagement and I got them muddled up. I realised quite quickly and deleted it and put up the correct separate tweets."

Mr Berry later published two separate tweets

He added: “But Labour would rather focus on a typo than focus on the real issues here. By focusing on a minor typo, Labour is doing a great job publicising me to their Twitter followers and the residents of Watford.

“I’ve only been in my position for a week and I already have nearly as many followers as Watford Labour. Labour can't campaign effectively, can't win an election, and can't decide if they are remain or leave.”

Watford Labour Party chairman Mike Jackson responded saying: “This is Berry’s Brexit blunder. The Brexit Party have got more money than sense selecting a candidate who thinks that Dominic Grieve was Chancellor of the Exchequer and even used a Twitter parody account to address him. This was more than a typo; it was gross incompetence.”