Keep your voice down when discussing strategy on the train. This from Guido whose source overheard a minister and special adviser plotting a ‘line’ for the press and blackberried the conversation….
I am en route on the 3.18 from Hull to London with two loud mouthed Labourites. Ivan Lewis, [Health PuSS] and his [researcher?]. They are deciding whether to go for a quote based on the Bevan quote that Tories are lower than vermin “Calling Bob at the Mirror on the rats and hospitals story. Will you tell me if you think this response if too churlish for the Mirror… When Bevan founded the NHS, he said Tories lower than vermin, I wouldn’t describe them like this but their approach to cleaner hospitals..”

As a media junkie I’m fascinated by mapping influence online. Powerful sources are emerging in the field of politics. We’ve explored previously the extent to which the Conservative Party and its supporters/sympathisers have organised in a far more effective way than their Left/Liberal counterparts.

Westminster circles were buzzing yesterday because ConservativeHome and Guido Fawkes had joined forces (swapping research, swapping sources, referencing each other) to uncover the expenses sleaze of a succession of Tory MEPs and the mobilise as a block to force David Cameron to kick them out of the Party.

Bloggers calling for blood is nothing new but ConHome and Guido have relied on Tory HQ briefings to give them so much information, access and help with sleaze investigations into the government, which has built their profile and muscle. Was this their way of demonstrating that they are in no way in Cameron’s pocket? That they are attack dogs who will turn on the powerful whichever Party flag they fly?

Or was this another Tory HQ sponsored attack on some problematic MEPs? Not sure yet but will find out….. 

Frenzied political campaigning has already started in little old Crewe & Nantwich, where a by-election takes place in a couple of weeks following the sad death of Labour MP, Gwyneth Dunwoody. This is (another) litmus test for Gordon, so expect all the big guns from all three parties to pile resources into this.

They’ll get a shock though if they try and buy up any online ad space as they try and catch the attention of those elusive young professionals or reliable silver surfers.  An enterprising web-marketing agency has bought the entire inventory on the Crewe Guardian  and Crewe and Nantwich Chronicle sites as well as the entire inventory from other mass consumer sites that focus on the constituency.  
Why? To better co-ordinate online political advertising across the constituency, and to provide synergies to existing clients who may want to influence the election. They’re auctioning it off in blocks – anti–ID card campaign group NO2ID is already running ads. Organisations that aren’t registered with the Electoral Commission are only allowed to spend £500, which is why they’re chopping it up into blocks (and targeting based on specific postcode, or other demographic criteria)

Who will buy it? The parties will utilise the service - but they’ve already got three other different 3rd-party influence groups signed up. 

PS The enterprising agency in question is MessageSpace,  run by my friend Jag Singh.  He has imported a lot of innovative techniques from the US, where he’s a web consultant on a lot of the Democrat campaigns and worth noting if you’re in the public/charity or lobby sector.