Douglas Carswell's Blog

Ministers should blog

Twitter, says Grant Shapps, the housing minister, allows him to say what he - not his civil servants - want. It frees him from over dependence on the Whitehall machine.  Good.

Similarly, it frees humble back bencher MPs from reliance on the party press office - and those weird, identikit press releases they used to encourage me to send out.

When I was first elected in 2005, a tiny clique of editors, producers and party press officials tended to decide what was newsworthy. They decided what points of view - and which MPs - got heard. Not any more.

Instead of regurgitating a fatuous "line-to-take", MPs wanting to have a say have to say what they think. There's just not much of a media market for MPs who recycle party spin any more.

Ministers who blog would not only be free from Sir Humphrey.  They'd no longer have to chum up to media barons either.

Lord Leveson's inquiry is looking at the cozy ties between ministers and media people.  Instead of making the media answer to an IPSA-type regulator, the solution should be for ministers to blog.  They could get their message across without having to ingratiate themselves with the kind of people Lord Leveson has been cross examining.

Oh. And if ministers began to write a daily blog in their own words, we might start to see a little authenticity in our politics once again, too.

Follow Grant's example, minister. Get blogging!

Back to all posts