Before the Defection Rumours Start…
According to a piece in today’s Guardian Online section I am a Labour MP. Curious. This is not the first time this has happened. It is perhaps less of a problem for me than for Clive Soley MP who has been in the Labour Party since before I was born and is therefore very piqued to be described as a Liberal Democrat in the same piece…
Posted in News 6 years ago at 3:34 pm. 11 comments
Previous Post: Copyright Considerations Next Post: That Mysterious “Recess”
Well, looking at your blog, it is not obvious that you are a Liberal Democrat. Are you ashamed?
You’re lucky. I was described as the Tory Candidate for Norwich North. The first bit’s right, but I’m the candidate in North Norfolk, although I’m sure Norman Lamb would rather I wasn’t… Good blog, by the way!
Good to see that both you and Clive have already published such elegant ripostes. By the way, the article IS published on The Guardian’s website (without corrections so far), at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1270818,00.html
We have also linked to it from the Working for an MP website (www.w4mp.org) today.
Mulling over Dan’s comment I see that my blog does not have Lib Dem branding on it, though it is clear I am a Lib Dem from lots of the posts on it. Is this because I am ashamed, he asks? Not really, but it was a deliberate design decision. I felt that the site would be more interesting as the comments of an elected representative who happens to be a member of a party rather than putting the party stuff to the front. Maybe I have taken this “stealth politics” approach too far to the confusion of our colleagues in the press.
Perhaps just one, wee link to the Liberal Democrats site would help clear up the confusion, without making the weblog look overtly party political. I wonder how Sean Dodson and the subs at the Guardian are feeling now that they have probably been given a good hiding by the editor. Not meaning to be rude, Richard Allan is not exactly the most famous parliamentarian, but marking Clive Soley – a widely respected Labour grandee – down as a Liberal Democrat is simply stupid.
Despite the mistakes in that article, it is good to see more MPs being encouraged to blog.
Plus I am happy to see GidleyWatch getting a passing reference in the press.
It gets better; now the BBC has you down for Labour as well:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3936573.stm
C’mon, Richard. You can’t fight the inevitable.
(One of us. One of us. One of us. One of us.)
You are quite right. Preaching to the converted is not the purpose.
I think you’re right for it not to be an overly party political blog. It would certainly turn me off, as a person who is very interested in politics and the political process, but have very little time for party politics.
If your site was full of Lib Dem stuff I would see it as purely a promotional tool and I would not bother reading. As it is, I see it as fairly informative and more genuine.
Pippa
8678 you can thank Tony Blair for the war in iraq here:
http://www.thankyoutony.com/messages.html
Lovely spam, wonderful spam….