A Labour MP yesterday highlighted the perils as well as the advantages of using internet technology for political purposes when she apologised for letting her constituency website be used to promote unchecked claims about atrocities in the Middle East.

Lynne Jones, MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, made her apology - over a constituent's claim that 86 Palestinian women had been raped by Israeli soldiers - on the day that Peter Mandelson, unveiled his own Hartlepool website.

Dr Jones said last night that since setting up her website in 1997, she had avoided trouble - until she posted the rape claim which she later amended to "not authenticated". As a result she has been innundated with abusive email from pro-Israeli campaigners who have not seen the now-withdrawn claim. To her dismay the pro-Palestinian camp is using her site to validate the claim.

Recent increases in office staff and equipment costs has allowed MPs to become more ambitious. Email sent by MPs increased by 44% last year and MPs also received 1,300 new computers free.

While Labour's Anne Campbell, MP for Cambridge, was a website pioneer, the sites of Liberal Democrat MPs Ed Davey (Kingston) and Richard Allen (Sheffield Hallam) have been praised. Ann Widdecombe had a mixture of hard news, surgery information and, crucially, everything you need to know about her cats.

Mr Mandelson explained last night that he had been approached by website designers 4DMedia who wanted to provide him with the kind of site which might encourage other Labour MPs to develop websites. The result included access to dozens of the former cabinet minister's articles and speeches.

· To discover if your MP has a website search the Guardian's political database, Ask Aristotle.