EU Referendum


EU Referendum: reactivating the blogosphere


05/12/2015




I have to admit to a certain schadenfreude on seeing Mr Farage being accused of "sour grapes" over Jeremy Corbyn's "unexpectedly comfortable" victory in Oldham West & Royton.

For so long, a few of his supporters have levied that tedious accusation against me personally (and some still do behind my back), so I would be less than human (as some also allege) if I didn't take some enjoyment out of any otherwise wholly unsatisfactory situation.

The trouble is that we've seen this dynamic so many times before. Farage and his close party supporters talk themselves into a frenzy, convincing themselves that they are going to win, most often based on flawed political analysis bolstered by an unhealthy dose of self-deception.

Then, when they fail to deliver the goods, it's always the fault of someone or something else. Only this time, the racism is scarcely concealed: "brown  people who don't speak English have robbed me of my prize", is an easy construction to put on his words.

No one sensible will dispute that there are valid causes for serious concern about the way our electoral system is developing. Neither will anyone disagree that Ukip is disproportionately affected by the failings in the system. But a "sulky" Farage going off half-cock about elections being "bent", without being able to produce credible (or any) evidence, is of no value to anyone except the party's detractors.

Now, despite the work of a large number of well-meaning volunteers and the expenditure of a great deal of money, the outcome is headlines in The Times and many other media outlets, all casting Ukip in an unfavourable light. Once again, Farage has tarnished his own party's reputation and damaged its electoral prospects.

If that was the end of it, it would be of no consequence or concern to us. If the leader of a political party chooses a path of self-destruction, then ordinarily that is a matter for its members and supporters. We are neither.

But as long as Ukip is so closely associated with the "leave" campaign, such actions not only damage itself. They damage all of us fighting the cause, dragging us back and making it harder for us to attract support. That makes the party our concern.

There are several ways we can respond. One is to attempt to change the party from within – a task that has been attempted by many and which will have no effect as long a Nigel Farage is party leader. Another way is to take the charitable view that the party needs encouragement. By dint of providing it with information and support, it may be prevailed upon to mend its ways.

Since that has even less chance of working than the attempts to seek change from within, the only real alternative is to disown the party. Effectively, we need to say of its activities, "not in my name". It does not represent the "leave" campaign and we do not share its views and opinions.

Sadly, the one thing we can't do is ignore it, any more than we can ignore the stupidity of Vote Leave or any other organisation which goes out of its way to contradict or damage our work. It really matters not whether they are friend or foe. As in a shooting war, "friendly fire" can be just as lethal as any other kind.

Nevertheless, there is something more positive that we can do. That is to promote useful and sensible material more widely, making it accessible to more people. By weight of numbers, we can match or even drown out some of the noise, and the wild stupidity of the sort being produced almost daily by the Telegraph and the rest of the media.

Without doubt, one of the most effective (and certainly one of the most cost-effective) ways of doing this is to encourage greater use of blogging and thereby to reactivate the British political blogosphere.

When we started blogging, back in 2004, we were in the vanguard of something new and exciting in British politics – the emergence of blogging as a political force. It was one that was having considerable impact in the United States, where it has matured into a potent political force, where even aspirant presidential candidates take care to keep the blogosphere on-side.

In the UK, though, the blogosphere has not taken off to the same extent. The reasons could form the basis of several PhD theses, but the deliberate sabotage by the legacy media and especially the Daily Telegraph, certainly contributed. Then there was the selfishness of the SW1 claque which took the genre for its own and, with the help of their media friends, froze out the independents.

However, now that we are embroiled in the referendum campaign, an independent political blogosphere is needed more than ever before. Working loosely as a pack, bloggers can achieve collectively far more than they can as individuals working on their own.

Some high quality bloggers have already emerged, and we are doing our best to keep up with their latest posts, such as from White Wednesday and Lost Leonardo, just two examples of a dedicated and growing band of writers focusing on referendum matters.

Our activity, though, tends to be sporadic. Recruitment is more hit-and-miss than we would like. But, together with Leave HQ, we are working on helping to improve the reach and performance of the blogosphere. Rebuilt, an independent political blogosphere will be a powerful political force, a hundred or so writers having a huge influence on the campaign.

I'll be writing again on this topic shortly and, if certain developments come off, we'll be in business with a vengeance. But, come what may, the blogosphere is back and it is growing again. We're going to help make it work. And it's going to be one hell of a ride.