Cabinet Office worker sets up anti-Tory Facebook group

The Cabinet Office received a complaint from the Tories concerning a Facebook group

Civil Service use of social media is in question after a junior civil servant was criticised for breaking impartiality rules by forming an anti-Conservative Party group on Facebook.

The group was set up by a Cabinet Office staff member Khaled Moyeed after Tory leader David Cameron made controversial statements about Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation schools last month.

Moyeed's Facebook group received complaints from the Tories and has since been taken down.

According to reports, Moyeed has argued that he intended the group to remain disconnected from his Civil Service employment.

However, his actions appear to contradict a document issued to Civil Service employees last year, entitled Engaging through social media: A guide for Civil Servants (PDF), which lays out the "rules of engagement" for social media participation.

"Be a Civil Servant. Remember that you are an ambassador for your organisation. Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of your department or agency," is one of the rules noted in the document.