Updated 7.40pm

A CRYPTIC TWEET sent from the account of a British government minister has left the Twittersphere wondering as to just what Chris Huhne is referring to.

The account of the British Secretary of Energy and Climate Change sent a tweet this evening which read: “From someone else fine but I do not want my fingerprints on the story. C”

The tweet was deleted after less than an hour online.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change at first claimed the tweet was a result of a hack but then retracted that statement and it was not immediately clear how the tweet came about.

A spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Climate Change told TheJournal.ie earlier it was definitely not Huhne who sent the tweet: “We’re pretty sure it’s a hack. It’s definitely not Chris Huhne. We believe his account must have been hacked.”

But that statement has since been retracted and the spokesperson said they were “not sure” of the circumstances of the tweet.

Earlier, a spokesperson for Chris Huhne’s constituency office in Eastleigh in Hampshire, which usually handles the account, said he was not immediately aware of the tweet: “I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t spoken to him about it.”

Asked if it was sent in error, the spokesperson added: “Probably, I would have thought so.”

British political commentators and journalists were re-tweeting the tweet, speculating as to what it could be about.

A BBC journalist in Hampshire has tweeted to say that Huhne has told him the tweet was for a member of staff and concerned the so-called #catflap story that dominated the Conservative Party conference this week.

This story referred to a line in a speech by Home Secretary Theresa May which falsely claimed that an illegal immigrant was not deported because he had a pet cat.

The Observer’s former political editor Gaby Hinsliff earlier speculated it could be an off the record briefing to a Sunday newspaper: “FWIW suspect it’s a Sunday paper story that Huhne doesnt want his fingerprints all over….Friday evening’s when everyone briefs Sundays,” she tweeted.