The Smeargate controversy has reignited the debate about the direction of the Labour Party’s online strategy. With a general election just months away what must Labour do to get back on track? My thoughts below:
1. Drop Draper
Derek Draper’s late embrace of the blogosphere has become a text book example of exactly what not to do when devising and implementing an online strategy. From starting fabricated battles with popular bloggers in a vain attempt to drive traffic to LabourList, to his misuse of Twitter, Draper has ignored the key principles of honesty, transparency, decency and dare I say, humility, which should guide the online behaviour of a mainstream political party.
Draper’s intimate involvement in the development of the Red Flag blog is the manifestation of an ingrained command-and-control mentality, which both he and Labour Party HQ just can’t seem to shake off. The clearest lesson from Smeargate is that the media manipulation techniques of the late 90s no longer work. You can’t bully and intimidate the blogosphere into submission.
I really can’t see how Draper can continue to be editor of LabourList or have any further involvement in Labour’s online strategy. Gordon Brown needs to take John Prescott’s advice and publically signal an end to Draper’s role as a ‘new media’ adviser. Until he does, the stench of Smeargate will never be far from the Labour Party’s online activities.
2. Close LabourList
Presenting LabourList as an independent site when it was officially launched at Labour HQ in the presence of Peter Mandelson and other government ministers was farcical from the start. I said as much in a letter to PR Week, in response to which Draper “named and shamed” me as his ‘Zero of the Day’.
The fact that his ‘Hero of the Day’ was Baroness Vadera, just 24-hours after her much ridiculed remarks about “seeing the green shoots of economic recovery” confirmed to me that LabourList was modeled more on Pravda than ConservativeHome.
Mark Hanson this week makes a brave attempt at defending the future of LabourList and Draper’s involvement, despite Draper giving Hanson’s boss at Staniforth a direct lesson in his own corrosive brand of blogger relations.
The truth is that the reputation of LabourList is just too damaged through its association with Draper to have any credibility with the rest of the blogosphere, the mainstream media and most importantly with ordinary Labour Party activists. As reported in the FT, the sites trump card of access to the heart of government, with contributions from ministers is no more. A Labour Party source is quoted as saying “You won’t be seeing any of them going near it again.”
I suspect that there will be an attempt at a re-launch, but the party shoudn’t waste any more time and resources trying to flog a dead horse.
3. Let a thousand flowers bloom
It is a genuine shame that so many of the ordinary contributors to LabourList have been so let down by the people behind the site. There have been some occasional attempts to encourage real debate and kick start the process of filling the paucity of policy at the heart of the Labour movement. What should these activists do now?
My advice would be to go out there and create your own blogs and online communities. The more the merrier! You can buy some great WordPress ‘magazine style’ templates for less than £50, which are arguably more attractive and user-friendly than LabourList. There is no compulsion to pay Tangent Labs thousands to build a bespoke site running on bespoke technology.
Placing so much emphasis on one site was perhaps the biggest flaw in Labour’s online strategy. In the interests of balance there have been some successes - the metamorphosis of John Prescott into an online campaigner has been as effective as it has been surprising. Go Fourth and Alastair Campbell’s personal site have provided some variety but there hasn’t been a concerted effort to redress in both the quantity and quality of sites, the dominance of the Right-leaning blogosphere. Closing LabourList could be the catalyst this process needs.
4. Listen to good advice
The start of the year saw numerous conferences and summits called to help Labour get to grips with e-campaigning. These featured online gurus from Blue State Digital, the team behind Obama’s digital success, as well as experts from Google, MoveOn and MySociety. What Smeargate highlights is that most of this advice has gone in one ear and out the other. The Labour Party new media chief Sue Macmillan needs to demonstrate that the Labour Party is now acting on the advice of these experts and has learned the lessons from Smeargate. Basically, don’t buy a dog and then bark yourself.
5. Promote Tom Harris MP
The Tories have benefited from placing an MP in the shape of Jeremy Hunt MP, shadow culture secretary, specifically at the forefront of their online campaigning. Labour should consider doing the same and Tom Harris MP seems to be the obvious candidate. His rapid denunciation of McBride and Draper’s activities highlights he has the moral compass necessary to drive Labour’s online activities in the right direction. His net-savvy demonstrated through his own blog and use of Twitter has gained him respect across the political divide. Harris’ position on the backbenches also gives him the necessary room to manoeuvre to question government policy and engage in open debate with party activists and ordinary voters.
There are few positives from this affair for those in the Labour movement. Perhaps one crumb of comfort is that the Red Rag blog or anything similar will now not been deployed in the forthcoming general election campaign. While all UK political parties still have much to learn from the success of Barack Obama’s online approach, the one thing nobody wants to see imported is the character assassination and innuendo which have become a routine part of the online political process in the US. What the Labour Party decides to do next will be watched very closely.
UPDATE: I would recommend reading this post from Labour activist and digital PR expert Stuart Bruce on his advice for Labour’s online strategy. Despite some stark differences with what I’ve written above, there is also some clear common ground.
