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General, Labour, Social web

Why Tom Watson MP is Only Half Right (or Half Wrong) on TV

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This evening at Millbank tower, political blogger and journalist Paul Evans hosted a panel of digitally aware politicians and commentators that included Tom Watson MP, Jeremy Hunt MP and the Evening Standard’s Deputy Political Editor Paul Waugh.  They were there to debate the subject of social media and the election.  Given that’s precisely the subject of this blog we felt it was right to be there.

Tom Watson told us that he was going to tell it like it is.  According to Tom how it is, is that this will be the UK’s first TV election rather than the inaugural plebiscite where the plebeians moderate the debate.  Putting aside the fact that this would put us 50 years behind the USA where the Kennedy Nixon run off was regarded as the first TV election, what Tom has missed is what every top TV exec now knows.  Social media has become  a critical component of event television and event television is what is keeping the broadcasters in business.

The concept is known as “two-screen” and the channel of choice is most often twitter.  When Cameron, Clegg and Brown get up in front of the tv cameras it will be one of the biggest ever political tv events and it will be the ‘two-screeners’ who decide whether one or other candidate is too shifty to elect.  The likes of Paul Waugh and other social media savvy scribes will be watching with fascination before they channel the views of the twitterati through the mainstream media.  For a social media trailblazer Watson’s got some catching up to do.

Conservative, Social web

David Cameron Watching David Cameron

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The user-generated mashup that has been the scourge of pre-election advertising campaigns this year is also coming to a video clip near you.

There is a wonderfully irreverent site called Speechbreaker.co.uk that allows users to re-edit speeches by the three main party leaders. It’s quick and fun and you can post the results to YouTube.  Some enterprising users are using alternative videos over which to dub the audio with some almost disturbing results, as you can see for yourself.

Liberal Democrat, Social web

Grass Roots Campaign for Vince Cable to be Chancellor #invincecable

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There is a lot of debate as to whether social media will play a truly significant role in the coming election or not.  The nay-sayers point to the fact that we have no Obama-like figure around which support can coalesce and the short nature (less than four weeks) of the official general election campaign.

A key aspect of the social web is that it allows like-minded people, even those that are not politically active in the traditional sense, to build campaigns around a particular interest or objective.  One such campaign is that gathering traction on the social web is a campaign to promote Liberal deputy leader Vince Cable as the post election Chancellor of the Exchequer.   The campaign has a wiki, website, invincecable.org.uk, a  slogan “In Vince Cable we Trust” and the inevitable hashtag #invincecable.

With the Liberal vote hovering around 19% this campaign surely has no chance having any impact.  The Liberals just can’t win.  Like many things it isn’t that simple.  The latest polls point at a hung parliament.  To avoid a second plebiscite a coalition government may be on the horizon.   Any coalition would include Liberal Democrats.  Whilst not exactly Obama-like Vince Cable is one of the few political figures in the UK that excites interest across the party lines.

The economic crisis will inevitably deepen as public spending falls after the poll.  There is growing consensus that the economic challenges we face require a depth of economic understanding that Osborne, Darling (or Balls) just don’t have.

If the people say loud enough that they want Cable in Number 11 they might just get him.

UKIP

I Don’t Want To Be Rude Mr Farage but….

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A theme is emerging in the run up to the poll and it’s not so much user generated content as user-generated poster advertising.  The airbrushed for change David Cameron mash-ups have been the most prominent but this week Nigel Farage of UKIP gets the grassroots advertising rollover treatment.

Idontwanttoberude.com is home to the poster above a riposte to Farage’s barrage of abuse directed at the Belgian-born EU President Herman van Rompuy in which he told the European leader in the EU Parliament that he had the charisma of a “damp rag” and the looks of a “low-grade bank clerk”.  The boos in the chamber have been followed by more abuse on-line for Mr Farage who also described Belgium, as “pretty much a non-country.”  Look’s like he won’t be off to Belgium in a hurry but one voter at least has told him where to go.

General, Labour, Social web

Angry Gordon’s Avatar – the Taiwanese Movie

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Apple Daily, a newspaper and website based in both Hong Kong and Taiwan has used computer graphics to recreate the alleged bully boy tactics of the prime minister. The video is gaining traction on news sites in the UK and through social networks.

Whilst hardly in the James Cameron league when it comes to CGI the clips graphically illustrate the nature of the claims made by journalist Andrew Rawnsley and even exceed his allegations in terms of the severity of the alleged acts. Whilst somewhat slapstick in their delivery this clip can’t do the prime minister much good at home or abroad.

General, Social web

Is the On-Line Electoral Campaigning Moving Up a Gear?

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In an article in The Times today Alastair Campbell claims that the social web has altered the power balance in political campaigning. “The internet and, in particular, social networking have changed the terms of the relationship between the parties, the media and the public, taking at least some of the power to influence away from parties and media, to the benefit of the public”.

The former journalist and spin doctor supreme has himself embraced the social web and so may be well placed to judge.  He is a regular blogger and his twitter account @campbellclaret (claret here is a reference to his beloved Burnley football team rather than Burgundy wine – Campbell is teetotal) has over 15 thousand followers.  Political blogger Iain Dale names Campbell as the number 2 Labour twitterer after the Prime Minister’s wife. 

Compared with the US presidential election of 2008 the level of engagement via the social web has been low in the run up to the 2010 UK general election but there are many politicians experimenting with on-line dialogue.   There are now signs that all of the major parties are stepping up their on-line activity.  It could be that the phony war is over and Alastair Campbell, so influential in previous elections, has just fired the starting gun on the social media election battle.

General, Labour, Social web

Loony Slogan ‘A Future Fun Fair for All”

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In the hours following the Labour Party Rally in Coventry where  the Prime Minister unveiled Labour’s vision for the country under the slogan “A Future Fair For All” the twitterverse was awash with the rumour that the Official Monster Raving Loony party had adopted a very similar slogan “A Future Fun Fair For All’.

The official home page for the Raving Loonies throws doubt on the veracity of the claim.  There is no mention of it at all. The likelihood is that it is a product of witty twittering.   It does suggest that one of the biggest effects of the social web during the election campaign will be the spoofing of parties, candidates and especially leaders. We have already seen it with the fabulous Cameron posters. We are going to see it again. And again.

Election Date, Labour

Purnell Quits Ahead of Election

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The surprise expressed on-line at the sudden departure of ex Cabinet minister James Purnell will be short-lived.  In his statement he said himself  “I have spent all my working life in or about Westminster. And while this has been a huge privilege, I’ve realised I don’t want to have spent all my life in frontline politics.  I’m looking forward to completing my project at Demos.  After that my hope is to contribute ideas to public service and to the Labour party.”

Whatever the outcome of the election there is no frontline future for Purnell.  He publicly quit the cabinet in an attempt to force Gordon out and he failed.  In politics that means that you exit stage left.  This may well be a clearing of the decks before the date of the election is announced.  There is much chatter around the Labour mini conference planned in Coventry tomorrow and if Gordon doesn’t name the date, and he might, he will certainly be setting out his stall and by tea time tomorrow Purnell’s political pursuits will be a footnote.

Election Date, Labour

Date of the 2010 Election – Britain’s Worst Kept Secret

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We all know that the UK General Election will be on May 6th.  Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth gave the game away on Sky News in January when he said: “I think the British public will wake up and rue the day if they wind up with a Conservative government in charge of this country after May 6.  Chris Bryant, the Europe Minister, mentioned the same date a few weeks earlier.

Now it seems that the Labour party has begun printing leaflets with the date.  In a gaffe of spectacular proportions the leaflets are being printed at a press that Labour shares with the SWP.  According to Brendan Montague at the-sauce.org, the SWP has told its members “the General Election will be on the 6 May – how do we know? One of the printers we use is at this very moment printing millions of Labour leaflets with the date on!”

Now of course we might be seeing a series of carefully orchestrated faux ‘leaks’ designed to throw the opposition, however that would require a level of strategic consideration that has been noticable by its absence at senior levels within the Labour Party of late.  May the 6th it is then.

Labour

“Buff” Hoon to Stand Down

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The architect of the most recent botched coup attempt on Gordon Brown’s leadership has announced that he is to stand down at the general election. 

It is unlikely any future labour leader would want someone in their top team who had demonstrated the level of ineptitude shown by ‘Buff’ as he is increasingly known in web circles.  As a matter of fact this would have been unlikely ever to arise as he already faced the possibility of being axed as a candidate by furious local party activists.  56-year-old Hoon, a lifelong Derby County fan is rumoured to be in line for the role of chairman of the football league.  If it comes to anything let’s hope he’s a bit more on the ball in that role.