Conservative party chair Grant Shapps instructed Hill Dickinson to send letters threatening to sue a constituent over comments made about him in a Facebook post, it has emerged.

Dean Archer, a chauffeur and former Labour councillor residing in Shapps’ Welwyn Hatfield constituency, reportedly wrote a post on the Facebook group ‘Positively Hatfield for Hatfield’ questioning Shapps’ honesty in running an online marketing company under the name Michael Green.