UK prime minister joins Twitter

British Prime Minister David Cameron attracted tens of thousands of followers, along with a barrage of abuse, when he began posting messages on Twitter to mark the opening of the Conservative Party conference.

"I'm starting Conference with this new Twitter feed about my role as Conservative Leader. I promise there won't be 'too many tweets'" Cameron said in his first message on Twitter.

Within hours, Cameron had attracted over 80,000 followers but also hundreds of sometimes expletive-laden messages that derided the 45-year-old prime minister as a leader who was undermining Britain.

"It's cool that you've got time to kill, as well as the dreams of our young people, and the working class," wrote a user called Jonno Turner.

Cameron, educated at Britain's most prestigious fee-paying school, Eton, and then Oxford University, regularly draws criticism for his privileged background, and austerity measures to tackle the budget deficit have also helped pull his approval ratings into negative territory.

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012