A British woman has been on the receiving end of scores of tweets and phone calls after US President Donald Trump mistakenly tweeted at her instead of Prime Minister Theresa May.
Theresa Scrivener, who lives in Bognor, used her middle name to set up the account @TheresaMay in 2009. She has been inundated with messages after Mr Trump directed a tweet at her on Wednesday night.
His message, sent in response to the Prime Minister rebuking his retweet of anti-Muslim videos published by a UK-based far-right activist, read: “@TheresaMay, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!”
Theresa May Scrivener has been on the receiving end of scores of tweets (Collect/PA)
Speaking exclusively to the Press Association, Miss Scrivener said she had received “huge numbers” of messages, adding: “If I wanted to be famous I would have gone on X Factor.”
“It’s amazing to think that the world’s most powerful man managed to press the wrong button,” she said. “I’m just waiting for a call from the White House with an apology.”
Most of the responses on Twitter were from people offering their condolences, with many Americans apologising for their president.
“I’m just glad he was not contacting me to say he was going to war with North Korea,” she added.
Miss Scrivener, 41, said the first she heard of the incident was when she woke at 4am to huge numbers of messages on her phone from reporters hoping to speak to her. It was not until a few hours later she saw the tweets from Mr Trump.
Speaking from her home on Thursday, she said: “I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. I was in bed by half 10 last night and oblivious to it all. It has been very surreal. I am laughing about it now but he is the one who sent the tweet and I have been inundated with calls.
“I haven’t been able to leave my house. I’ve been bombarded and been contacted by press from around the world.”
Miss Scrivener said she wanted to stay out of the debate surrounding Mr Trump’s conversation with the Prime Minister, but added: “He needs to think before he tweets. We – Theresa May and I – are so different. Our profiles are completely different. She runs the country, I’m a mum from Bognor.”
Miss Scrivener’s account has just six followers compared with Mrs May’s 427,000.
Miss Scrivener’s account is also locked, meaning only approved people can see her activity on the social network, it is not verified and the profile image is not the Prime Minister of the UK.
She said she was not going to change her name as a result of Mr Trump’s blunder, adding: “Why should I? It’s my name, I’m not going to change it. I hope now I’ve said my piece I will be left alone.”
This was not the first time she has been mistaken for the Prime Minister, as she receives almost daily tweets from Twitter users asking her to fix the NHS or speed up the Brexit process.
Neither was it the first time Mr Trump has directed his 44 million followers to the wrong account.
In January he mistakenly tagged a woman from Brighton in a tweet instead of his own daughter.
Quoting an account which has since been suspended, he wrote: “@Ivanka Trump is great, a woman with real character and class.”
The owner of the @Ivanka account, a digital consultant from Brighton, replied: “And you’re a man with great responsibilities. May I suggest more care on Twitter and more time learning about #climatechange.”