Comments on: The lady's not for YouTube-ing? Says who?

By: paulstpancras

paulstpancras — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:02:43 +0000

Good points by Andrew, Simon and Jon. The tragedy of "new" Labour is that it failed to build on, encourage and support the 450,000 members it had in 1997.

In 1998 I supervised the MEP candidate selection process for Central London. Already, at that date, membership was in freefall. Largely because loyal local activists were being sidelined by young, bright eyed and bushy tailed new activists who had little time for knocking on doors, telephoning, leafleting etc.

Many of the older members, who stuffed the envelopes and canvassed door to door, left the party in droves because they felt undervalued and not wanted. Many were wrongly tagged as old Labour leftists. Most were white collar public sector professionals, in their 30s and 40s, who felt marginalised and sidelined by a younger clique emergent in CLPs.

Neil makes a good point. It was its mailing lists that Obama's team used carefully, judiciously and in a targeted way. The Downing Street and other departments' e-mail lists are an invaluable tool and could be more carefully used.

By: Neil Franklin

Neil Franklin — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:15:07 +0000

Probably worth mentioning the hundreds of thousands (possibly millions?) of email addresses that remain at Downing Street's disposal via epetitions. The project should have been a gateway to further engagement, but it's languishing. Shame.

By: Jon Worth

Jon Worth — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:39:25 +0000

Behind Blears's words there is the assumption that elections are still *only* won and lost on the traditional doorstep, and that hard graft is the only way to make headway with the electorate (and, by definition, as an activist within the Labour Party). Political parties need to be open to online activism too, and Labour is quite a long way away from embracing this...

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:36:34 +0000

Good point yourself, Andrew. A new media approach could certainly be more efficient: a skilled individual could do great things in a couple of evenings, reaching hundreds, thousands, millions. That's many times more people than you could reach in a couple of evenings knocking on doors. (The key word there, of course, is 'skilled'.)

By: Andrew Cooper

Andrew Cooper — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:33:44 +0000

Good points, as ever, Simon and I agree with you about the original article. But I wonder how many activitists Labour have who are prepared to knock on doors. Media - new and otherwise - may be all they've got.

By: paulstpancras

paulstpancras — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:05:18 +0000

I cringe every time Hazel Blears opens her mouth. Ms Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, while no doubt a trooper, is not and never has been ministerial material. It is a poignant reminder of Blair's tenure that such second and third rate politicians rose without trace.

Both Blair and Brown have been badly let down by ministerial dross. Presidential governance sits uneasily in parliamentary systems of government.

We have been badly let down by the baby boomer generation of politicians, self absorbed and self obsessed, the Tory baby boomers offer little different.