An MP denied deceiving voters by getting involved in a Labour Party campaign to fake "spontaneous" demonstrations during the General Election campaign.

The Labour strategy to manufacture an appearance of enthusiastic support for the Government among ordinary members of the public was revealed in Channel 4's Dispatches documentary on Monday night.

The programme included footage of Celia Barlow, then the prospective parliamentary candidate for Hove, demonstrating outside the Brighton Centre in the run-up to the election campaign as Conservatives arrived for their party's spring conference in March.

Several dozen people, including Ms Barlow, who went on to win the Hove seat, held aloft apparently home-made placards attacking Tory policies.

The documentary claimed Labour tried to make it appear like a genuine local protest by making no reference to the demonstrators' Labour affiliations.

Ms Barlow, who did not see Monday's broadcast, denied there was any attempt to deceive. She said: "At no point did we attempt to imply we were a spontaneous group of people.

"It was health service workers and Labour supporters and there were other people walking past who said they would join us."

Ms Barlow issued a statement saying: "I was asked to go along to a demonstration against planned Tory health cuts. It was during their spring conference and the Tories had parked a massive van on the seafront saying 'Just how hard is it to keep a hospital clean?'.

"All of us present, particularly the nurses and midwives, found this offensive to the hardworking people of the NHS."

The Brighton seafront incident was highlighted by the Channel 4 documentary, Dispatches, as an example of Labour's centrally-co-ordinated campaign to create the impression of widespread grass-roots support.

Other aspects of the campaign included party members and supporters sending draft model letters to local newspapers affecting support for Labour.

Letters were written by Press officers who sent them to activists who, in turn, found a local person to put their name to the words.

Party activists were also routinely used for photo opportunities where journalists were told they were a cross-section of local support.

The plan backfired during the campaign when the same people were spotted at different photo shoots around the country.

The co-ordinated nature of the strategy was exposed by the Dispatches programme after an undercover reporter, Jenny Kleeman, got a job working in Labour's central London Press office.

The Labour Party refused to comment on the programme before it was broadcast. Since it was shown on Monday night, Labour has continued to decline to comment.

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: "We have got no intention of commenting on the programme."

The strategy, of creating apparently popular support for a brand, has previously been employed in the United States, where it has been used by pharmaceutical firms to promote their drugs.

It was also adapted for the US Presidential elections last November.

Ms Barlow's Tory opponent, Nicholas Boles, said he could not blame the Labour tactics for his defeat.

Speaking from the United States, he said yesterday: "My own view is that sort of thing feeds the level of distaste for politics and doesn't do any of us any good.

"It doesn't surprise me that the Labour Party does this but I can't say it contributed to my defeat."

Mr Boles added that he was taking a break before deciding what to do next but is philosophical about the loss.

He said: "You work for 18 months at this and you hope you will be successful, so it is a defeat. But you can't go into this game without being prepared to fall off the tightrope."