MP 'visited' hospice that does not exist

Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Tonge has been forced to apologise after her office issued a press release claiming she had visited a children's hospice which has not yet been built.

The Richmond Park MP, who was not in the country when the release was issued earlier this month, was quoted as praising the work of the Shooting Stars Trust.

The press release had her claiming: "It was an honour to meet the brave children at the hospice. The work the doctors and nurses do at the Shooting Stars Children's Hospice is second to none."

She was later forced to issue a humiliating "unreserved apology" to the Trust's development manager Keith Witham, who is trying to raise funds to build the hospice in her constituency.

The gaffe happened on 4 February while Dr Tonge was in Sierra Leone at a British Council conference discussing ways of increasing the number of women MPs.

Her parliamentary researcher Katy Oswald said staff would not " knowledgeably make something up" and admitted the release was a huge mistake based on a diary entry for that day.

She added: "It was a one-off and happened on this one occasion when she was not there. It will never happen again."

However, Conservative councillor Tony Arbour, GLA representative for Kingston and Richmond, criticised the MP for trying to exploit the planned hospice for political gain.