National MP Jo Hayes deletes Twitter account after sending late-night abusive tweet

An MP who launched a bizarre unprompted attack on a member of the public has deleted one of her Twitter accounts.

Jo Hayes, a National list MP, had two accounts on the social media site. She logged into one of them on Friday night and told a member of the public he was a "nasty person", Newshub revealed on Saturday.

"OMG Youre such a nasty  person and i hope that people checking you out for future work will visit your twitter page and see how ugly you really are [sic]," Hayes told Twitter user Jeremy Greenbrook-Held.

It's not clear why she did it. Greenbrook-Held - who years ago was a candidate for Labour - told RNZ he's never interacted with Hayes, and was now considering deleting his account.

"I'm not sure what she thought she was responding to but it's interesting that a National MP thinks that they can say that to somebody to be honest."

Hayes' tweet was directed at a five-month-old photo of Greenbrook-Held at his graduation ceremony.

After much confusion on Saturday morning over whether the account and tweet from Hayes were legit, Newshub confirmed they were.

"I should not have sent this tweet," the MP, ranked 36th on the National list at the 2017 election, said. "I will delete it and I'm sorry for any offence caused."

Jo Hayes' tweet.
Jo Hayes' tweet. Photo credit: Jo Hayes/Twitter

It took Hayes a couple more hours to delete the tweet. When Newshub checked Twitter on Sunday morning, the entire account had been deleted.

Hayes' other account remains online. It's not clear why she had two Twitter accounts.