Bosses at Camden Unison have urged staff to be more cautious while using social media after a health and safety officer made a post on Facebook suggesting he supported Conservative MPs being beaten up by elderly ladies.

Phil Lewis, who works for Unison at Camden Council, made the comments on a Crouch End Labour Facebook page last month.

Posting a story about a south London MP who was hit by a pensioner angry about the Coalition’s changes to the NHS, he wrote: “Hopefully the first of many!”

Mr Lewis insisted the comment was “light hearted” and in response to an “amusing anecdote about an old lady swinging her handbag at a Tory MP”.

But his bosses at Unison suggested the comment was one step too far.

George Binette, branch secretary of Camden Unison, said: “It’s clear he’s not calling for Tory MPs to be assaulted but it might be in his own best interest to delete the comment.

“I wouldn’t have posted it myself - but maybe the thought would have run through my head.

“That’s the challenge of using social media, I guess.”

Mr Lewis refused to apologise for the comment.