The Conservative Party is claiming to be the “party of the internet” with the appointment of Jeremy Hunt as “online spokesman“. Writing on the Blue Blog, he said:

It’s not enough just to have the best policies or the right people in politics these days. What’s the point of having a debate if the message doesn’t reach anybody? Or if you can’t listen to what people are saying they want?

New media offers up a wealth of opportunity for political parties to engage with the public – and the election of Barack Obama shows that the political party who wins the online battle gains a huge advantage.

So far so good.

The Conservatives have led the way when it comes to online campaigning. From Webcameron to the Stand Up Speak Up grassroots policy discussion, from livestreaming the 2008 Party Conference to having the biggest Facebook page of any UK party, we have embraced technology as a way to better engage with the public.

Our commitment to online campaigning was shown by our recent revamp of Conservatives.com, which has given the Party the most up-to-date, informative and accessible website in mainstream British politics.

This isn’t quite true, is it? Whilst the Conservatives have the best website of the British political parties, they’ve hardly been pushing the boundaries of the internet. Yes, they have have some good responses to the PBR, including the national debt counter, the widget showing each persons share of the national debt. But Labour had a better first bit of economic propaganda.

Today, however, the Conservatives have a good online wheeze – a free to download mobile ringtone of Brown’s “saved the world” statement at PMQs. Extremely clever, though quite how popular it will turn out to be, I’m not so sure. But it is a good start.

Hunt does finish his post really quite well though, in a way that bodes well for the future of Tory online campaigining, saying:

The internet provides political parties with the opportunity to reach a wider audience, especially floating voters and those not already engaged with politics. And my job is to make the Conservatives the party that best embraces the new politics of the internet, through blogs, videos, social networking sites and YouTube – and, ultimately, by ensuring Conservatives.com the best political site on the internet.

If you achieve that, you could indeed be responsible for winning the Conservatives the next election. So go on, show us what you’ve got!