Ian Dale does his best to cross-subsidise the traffic of his Dale & Co website by auto-posting links from his well-followed Twitter account. Here’s why it might not be such a good idea:
Perhaps it could have been worse for Ed Miliband after all…
A member of the parliamentary standards watchdog has been accused of making a “sick joke” at the expense of a dead parliamentary researcher. In an interview with Total Politics magazine IPSA board member and merchant banker Ken Olisa was quizzed by Iain Dale:
Iain Dale: How much training do your staff get before they’re let loose on MPs?
Ken Olisa: [laughs] Well, there’s the samurai courses …
Union sources have claimed the remark was a reference to the stabbing of Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones and the death of his Parliamentary Assistant, Andrew Pennington, ten years ago. Pennington died on 28 January 2000, and was posthumously awarded the George Medal for his bravery in fighting a constituent who attacked his boss with a samurai sword.
A spokesperson for IPSA told Scrapbook: ”The comments made no reference, explicit or implicit, to any attack on an MP or their staff … All of IPSA are working hard to help to restore trust in democracy and we are taken aback at the suggestion that we would make light of such an incident.”
Perhaps Olisa can explain what on earth he was referring to?
The past twelve months (and prior) have seen several very popular blogs either shut down or change editorial hands. As the year draws to a close, what better opportunity to reflect on those bloggers “no longer with us”. Starring Iain Dale, Tom Harris, Derek Draper and others, we’ve finally completed our end-of-year video.
This is our tribute to those who have bought their site a one-way ticket to Zurich.
It may have something to do with Westminster’s exodus for Cliff Richards’ villa a yacht in Corfu the outskirts of Dear Old Blighty, but Scrapbook can’t help noticing the number of bloggers on the airwaves of late. Tory Bear’s hour-long LBC love-in with Red Ken on Saturday morning was followed by the appearance of not one but three online hacks on Radio 4′s Westminster Hour.
Media fixture Iain Dale was joined by Hopi Sen and Stephen Tall for a 20-minute discussion focusing on the government’s first 100 days. With Messrs Hutton, Field, Milburn and (possibly) Blunkett taking the Con-Dem shilling it may seem that Gordon Brown’s “big tent” has given way to a more substantial construction.
The recent influx of Labour talent, anathema to the 30 former front benchers found surplus to coalition requirements in May, was lamented by Iain Dale in particular. This blogger has only just got around to listening to it on iPlayer but found this (frustrated) interjection amusing:
Stephen Tall: Personally, I’m in favour of this big and expanding tent. I think it’s good for [interrupted]
Iain Dale: It’s a marquee!!
Perhaps silly season is getting to us but we couldn’t resist extending the metaphor:
Were Simon Hughes and David Davis spied near the guy ropes clutching scissors?
Iain Dale’s post earlier today announced the end of his campaign for a Commons seat but seemed to leave the door ajar as far as Westminster is concerned:
Anyway, there are things I’d rather do over the next few years rather than flog what I consider to be a dead horse. I’ve always wanted to be a parliamentarian, but I’m not obsessive about it – perhaps that is where I have gone wrong!
Note the choice of words. One would usually say “I’ve always wanted to be an MP” but Dale writes “I’ve always wanted to be a parliamentarian“. There’s a difference there as the latter formulation would include peers.
By writing to Sayeeda Warsi to expunge his name from the candidates list (and then blogging about it) Dale signals clearly to the top brass that there will be no 11th-hour run for selection. His allies within the party and others who might want to see him in parliament are thus left with one option.
Notwithstanding his habit of treating other bloggers like children, Dale is solid media performer with a strong track record in publishing. Formalising his involvement with the party in this way might be an astute move on Cameron’s part.
Lord Dale of Ashton Ashdon?
UPDATE: Those who would prefer a more cerebral analysis (without another list!) should check out Sunder Katwala’s post from yesterday.
In the wake of Tweetminster’s report on Twitter and UK politics, Left Foot Forward have re-ordered Iain Dale’s list of the “Top 20 Labour Twitterers” using Edelman’s TweetLevel service. One of the headline findings from Tweetminster’s research was that Labour’s twitter presence is composed of a broad movement of activists rather than “official” accounts and key players in the party machinery. This is reflected in Dale’s list, based purely on follower numbers, by the conspicuous absence of a number of key left-wing influencers such as Jessica Asato and grassroots activists like Kevin Peel.
Nine months ago, follower numbers may have served as a decent rule of thumb for comparing the relative reach of different tweeters (see Blackburn Labour’s list from April). In January 2010, however, better methods to measure influence are available that are based on metrics such as re-tweets. These have been developed by startups like Tweetminster and communications professionals such as Edelman who have thrown not insignificant sums of money at their development and (unlike Iain Dale) don’t have an axe to grind:
Labour bloggers have been happily retweeting all evening that the next election on Twitter will be between the “Tory machine” and “Labour’s grassroots activists”. This was the way Tweetminster put it in their report, published today. Assuming that party officials, candidates and MPs are defined as the “party machine” I’d say Tweetminster have got it the wrong way round judging by these two lists. Twelve out of the Top 20 Labour tweeters are in the party machine, compared with 11 Tories.
Iain Dale blazed a trail to become the UK’s first “name” political blogger in large part by burnishing his credentials as an independent thinker: ”Tory but not slavish”. The above paragraph, however, is an insult to the intelligence of his readers and a good example why many of Scrapbook’s politico friends have stopped reading him.
Below is an update of Left Foot Forward’s list, including many tweeters absent from Dale’s original numerology. The numbers in brackets are the score given by TweetLevel. Of course, if you’ve been missed off then let Scrapbook know in the comments.
1: Tom Watson (69)
2: Sarah Brown (67)
4: Ellie Gellard (65)
4: John Prescott (65)
5: Kerry McCarthy (64)
5: Tracey Cheetham (64)
6: Alastair Campbell (63)
7: Wes Streeting (61)
8: Tim Cheetham (60)
9: Kevin Peel (59)**
9: Labour List (59)
9: Claire Spencer (59)
10: Sunny Hundal (58)
10: Tom Scholes-Fogg (58)
11: Labour Matters (56)
11: Liberal Conspiracy (56)
12: Adam Bienkov (55)
12: Tom Harris (55)
12: Political Scrapbook (55)
13: Conor Pope (54)
13: The Fabian Society (54)
13: Northern Heckler (54)
14: Sunder Katwala (53)
15: Anthony Painter (52)
15: CathElliott (52)
15: Lord Paul Drayson (52)
16: Alex Smith (51)
16: Chris Paul (51)
16: Jessica Asato (51)
16: Jim Knight (51)
16: Luke Pollard (51)
16: Adam Connell (51)
17: Tom Miller (50)
17: Co-operative Party (50)
18: Stuart Bruce (49)
18: Will Straw (49)
18: Paul Williams (49)
19: sion simon (48)
19: Left Foot Forward (48)
20: Tudor Evans (47)
20: Kevin Maguire (47)
20: Sadiq Khan (47)
21: Kerron Cross (46)
21: Ben Folley (46)
22: David Miliband (45)
22: Gemma Tumelty (45)
22: Sally Bercow (45)
A special mention should go to Labour’s first couple of Twitter. No, not Ed and Yvette but Tim (7th 8th) and Tracey (4th 5th).
Aww, how tweet!*
*Sorry.
UPDATE II:** The original list above is now updated below to include many Labourites that were left off (and Sunny Hundal)! The statistician George Box said that “all models are wrong, but some are useful”. In this vein, a few people were the first to admit their surprise at making this list, seeming to uncover some issues with the TweetLevel metrics. But, even discarding such outliers completely, such tools nevertheless reinforce Tweetminster’s findings that the Labour grassroots take the lead in the party’s efforts online.
On Sunday evening Iain Dale posted some extremely sloppy climate change denial ‘science’ submitted by one of his readers. Scrapbook won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that the whole effort was completely and utterly flattened by Unity (@Unity_MoT) at Liberal Conspiracy and also by the Freethinking Economist. When it eventually came, the update Dale made to his original post left a lot to be desired:
I posted this because I thought it was interesting. It was not my work, as I made clear in the opening line. I then at the end encouraged readers to test the data themselves. And yet Will Straw, for it is he, seems to think I have something to apologise for.
With sleight of hand like this Dale will not be joining the Magician’s Circle any time soon. Will Straw didn’t ask for him to apologise but to accept that the basis for the original post was unsound – just as Straw’s Left Foot Forward did with some speed when they recently misstepped. He goes on:
I regard the internet as a place for debate – where you can throw something out there and let people debate the rights and wrongs.
No sooner had the Liberal Conspiracy piece been published than the left/liberal twitterati started to probe Dale for a response. Scrapbook’s request for him to engage rather than evade the issues elicited the tweet below. Does this sound to you like someone who is interested in a debate?
On the ropes and seemingly incapable of a dignified concession and face-saving refocus on the broader issues, Dale adopts the tactic of using chaff to deflect from the debate by reverse-smearing his opponents:
Most people on the left on Twitter haven’t really bothered engaging in an argument – all they have done is hurl insults. That’s fine. I expect it from them. They’re the internet equivalent of pond life.
You can bore yourself trawling Twitter Search for evidence of this mass abuse but you won’t find it. With the exception of this rebuke from Sunny Hundal (“Poor @iaindale is sulking now that climate denialism tripe posted on his blog is exposed as shite”) there isn’t anything which would offend even Stephen Fry.
Iain Dale is a big boy blogger.
But is he big enough to admit the basis of his post was wrong?
See also: Left Foot Forward
Iain Dale’s shortlisting to replace Andrew “double-dipping” Mackay in Bracknell offers the possibility that the Conservative’s number one blogger will finally come ‘full circle’ – his online diary was started originally for his campaign in North Norfolk. Dale discusses all things Bracknell with Jonathan Shepherd of Tory Radio in the clip below:
[gplayer href="http://toryradio.podbus.com/iaindaleonbracknell.mp3"]Iain Dale discusses Bracknell with Tory Radio[/gplayer]
But as Tim Montgomerie tells a conference #twinge event that Conservative Home will be “more disciplined” before the election and, depending on the shortlisting result on 17 October, Iain Dale is distracted by a possible constituency campaign (website here), will Labour’s online army have the scope to outflank a constrained and on-message Tory blogosphere?
It’s going to be an interesting eight months.
UPDATE: GetBracknell have this bigraphical rundown of the shortlisted candidates.
