Teen sworn in as Britain's youngest politician

An 18-year-old pupil believed to be the youngest elected politician in Britain was sworn in on Tuesday with a warning to watch what he says on social networking sites.

Tom Bletsoe, who stood as an independent, was sworn onto the town council of St Ives in Cambridgeshire, eastern England.

A council clerk warned him that any inappropriate comments online might breach the local authority's conduct code.

"I just think they know that I use Twitter and Facebook a lot," said Bletsoe, who was 18 years and 52 days when he won a by-election earlier this month, saying he wanted to make a contribution to his town.

The teenager, who is still at school, has ambitions to be an actor or a teacher.

With British politics still recovering from a scandal over lawmakers' expenses, Bletsoe said he had no intention to claim any.

"I'll walk to meetings. I only live five minutes away," he said.

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