Let’s get #KerryOut!
Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East and Labour’s Twitter Tsar, has really made herself a bit of a hate-figure recently, with her unreasoned blocking of various Tories on Twitter and general lack of engagement on a platform all about doing that.
And now it has moved to a new stage: campaigning to get Kerry voted out. In just one day, it has raised more than £750 for the campaign of Adeela Shafi, Conservative candidate in Bristol East.
Some are calling this “childish politics“, but they’re missing the point. This is what the internet is for, organising online campaigns to get Labour MPs voted and Conservative PPCs voted in. Yes, Kerry may be the target of this campaign because of her relatively high-profile online (even though being almost entirely invisible to the general public).
Online campaigns like this are the way forward, to raise awareness of various constituencies like Bristol East where we can win and have exceptionally high-quality candidates but need more resources to do so. As activists, we should always think about our own area first, but never forget that there are other areas as well that may need our help.
We are Conservatives; our very aim is and must be to get Conservative MPs elected at general elections. We want a Conservative government because we feel that that is best for the country. And to do this, we have to ensure that our resources are focused where they can be most effective. That means places like Bristol East and my own constituency of Watford.
I take your point – and thanks for the link – but the problem I have is the motivation behind this campaign, and that motivation is childish in the extreme. I’m not saying Bristol East is beyond the reach of the Conservative Party, but it is a long shot. What are you doing to raise awareness and funds for key seats, such as Brigg and Goole, Great Yarmouth and Bedford, to give three examples?
We are fighting a general election next year, not another by-election. Too many in the party have got used to travelling the highways of Britain fighting individual campaigns to realise there is plenty of work to be done in our own areas, By all means use the power of the Internet to raise awareness. I do this all the time for local campaigns in Yorkshire. Don’t waste your time on a silly vendetta with Kerry McCarthy. As I said in my blog post, I don’t think her constituents will like what you are doing and the whole thing is likely to backfire. Take this from someone who has been involved in political campaigning for over 20 years. Iain Dale has lost his sense of perspective on this issue and should know better. Tory Bear is too immature to understand what will work and what will not.
What this campaign is doing is encouraging people to donate to and get involved with Adeela Shafi’s campaign. It isn’t setting a whole campaign up from scratch!
Most of my effort is and will continue to be focused on my own constituency, where we are fighting get get rid of the useless Claire Ward and elect Richard Harrington. But there are others who live in safe Tory seats or safe Labour seats where the opportunity for meaningful campaigning is minimal – and so what this does is give the ideas as where they can be get involved.
Iain will be highlighting another eleven constituencies and so doing more – and I am sure that similar hashtags and the like may start up after them.
How many people other than political anoraks like most of us who tweet an blog etc. will ever hear of this? Not many, and so long as the resources are channelled into the local campaign, there will never be any knowledge of this amongst 99.9% of the Bristol East electorate – so I can’t see how it will backfire.
Chris – Kerry will say on her literature that a so-called independent campaign to oust her is merely a Conservative backed campaign with money pouring in from all over the country. The local press will pick the story up for sure. If the Conservatives are to stand a chance of winning this seat, any negative publicity like this will severely hinder the party’s chances. Why don’t you admit this campaign is about Iain Dale and Tory Bear seeking revenge against someone who has blocked them on Twitter? And if the press get hold of that it will be embarrassing. Childish politics.
Andrew – I don’t think that it is either “childish” or about “revenge”. And neither do I think that anyone will care about a few people online trying to do some rallying for a candidate.
If anything, the idea that the people of Bristol East are considered important enough for people across the country to donate to try and persuade them to vote Tory and that their constituency could swing the general election should help the Tory vote.
Let’s wait and see what happens, shall we?
[...] hashtag #kerryout – hasn’t really lived up to it’s early promise. At first I supported it, as a new way to help Conservative candidates remove Labour incumbents. But it reall hasn’t [...]
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