British Conservatives Seek New Political Weapon: Bloggers

But it seems to be a top-down sort of thing -- official campaign blogs are awful -- rather than the spontaneous grassroots thing that actually works. But Europe is always at least 10 years behind America:

THE Conservative Right is to turn to new American campaigning techniques and the internet to try to revive the party and overcome what it sees as opposition from the metropolitan Establishment.

Only weeks away from the general election, senior Conservatives will open a new front today in the battle for ideas by creating a website advocating “social conservatism�.

It will invite people to bypass the media and put forward their own views on how the party should evolve.

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It is independent of the Tory party, though supportive of it, but the website will inevitably be seen as the start of a fresh debate about where the party should move in the event of a third successive election defeat.

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The site will suggest a values-based approach to politics. It will favour tax relief, oppose British membership of the euro, support the strengthening of marriage and back pre-emptive action in the War on Terror. It will also advocate a broader form of conservatism, opposing the sale of arms to repressive regimes and suggesting that a “bias to the poor� should be its defining mission. Students will be a key target.

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In a recent article Mr Duncan Smith said that the “blogosphere� would become a big force in Britain and could boost conservatism.

Ahem. If any American know-how is sought, I am perfectly willing to relocate to get shitfaced on a nightly basis work in London for a few weeks to get these bumbling Brits started out on the right foot. I just want some of that crazy-blog-pounds-sterling.

posted by Ace at 07:13 PM

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