Cameron apologises after Wikipedia row

Cameron: Titian was 86, apparently

Tory leader David Cameron has apologised after a member of his staff changed an entry on internet encyclopedia Wikipedia in a bid to ensure his leader won an extraordinary Commons row with prime minister Gordon Brown over how old the artist Titian was when he died.

Brown used an anecdote about Titian when he spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, joking that when the artist, whom he claimed was aged 90, finished the last of 100 brilliant paintings he said: "I'm finally beginning to learn how to paint." Brown said that was where he is on the economy.

Cameron jumped on this during Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, to point out Titian was 86 when he died, suggesting this showed the prime minister never got his facts right.

However the “facts”, as recorded by Wikipedia, appear to have changed. At 12.34pm that day, the date of Titian's death was altered from 1576 to 1572, with a number of other changes since, which have since been tracked down to a computer at Conservative Central Office.

Cameron said later his staffer "shouldn't have done that" and had been disciplined.