Ed Miliband broke new ground for Britain's political leaders by hosting a Twitter chat.

All did not go exactly to plan after Harry Cole, who runs the Guido Fawkes site, arranged for his followers to bombard #AskEdM with mischievous questions as the chat started at 5pm.

Cole's first question was: "So @Ed_Miliband Do you feel bad about stabbing your brother in the back?"

Later, @David_CameronPM, a fake Cameron account, tweeted: "Ed's mum has phoned my mum and asked if we can all play nicer with him."

Miliband did manage to answer some serious questions In answer to @Emily_Knight, a Tory political aide who asked if it was right for the PCS public sector union to strike on a 32% turnout, he tweeted: "@Emily_Knight Strikes are a sign of failure on both sides. Government needs to get round table not ramp up rhetoric."

Giles Dilnot, the BBC political journalist who tweets as @reporterboy, tweeted: "I think #AskEdM might be attracting some serious thoughtful political questions and a truckload of, er, shall we say, less so."

Miliband answered the questions on his office computer. His iPad, a wedding present from his staff, stays at home. But he did tweet from his iPad on his wedding day.