The Twitter account of the British education secretary appears to have been hacked. The profile picture was changed to one showing Elon Musk and several tweets were posted promoting a cryptocurrency event.

On Christmas Day the account of Gillian Keegan, the MP for Chichester, replied to a number of tweets with links to a website advertising cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and dogecoin.

On Sunday evening the account posted a spate of tweets, suggesting the security had been compromised. By Monday all reference to Keegan in her Twitter name, her biography, photograph and banner had been removed.

In a tweet reply to YouTuber MrBeast, Keegan’s account posted: “Don’t let it get away! It’s gonna be awesome!” It was accompanied by a link purporting to advertise a “giveaway” for the “crypto community”.

In a reply to a tweet by Musk, the new owner of Twitter, words on the account said: “Thank you for another great year! This feels a lot like Christmas. Don’t miss guys!! BREAKING NEWS 4 Christmas.”

In other tweets the account described people who own the cryptocurrency dogecoin, once backed by Musk, as “a #dogecoin warrior fighting for the future!”

The cryptocurrency, which launched as a joke in 2013, soared in value earlier this year after Musk promoted it by saying it could be used to buy Tesla merchandise.

The tweets on Keegan’s account began appearing shortly before 7.30pm on Christmas Day, and were sent throughout the evening into the early hours on…