On Saturday I was (almost) gobsmacked when I saw "WebCameron".  Not the site itself, just the fact that the Guardian decided to run with the story as it’s front page lead.  Then tonight we saw the launch and electoral success of the Purple Alliance led by The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard aka Jane Horrocks.

WebCameron is a brave attempt by David Cameron and team to reach out to ordinary voters to portray him as an ordinary Dad and bloke.  I don’t know if it will work or not.  It is far too early to tell.  So far it has been pilloried by the cynical political junkies, spoofed by the recently idle-handed (relatively speaking) Tom Watson, praised to high heaven by some Conservatives.  For me however the most important part was that an online engagement initiative by an opposition politician took most of the front page of the Guardian on Saturday saying:

David Cameron will today unveil radical plans to harness the power of
the internet by reaching out to a blogging generation that is
disaffected and disconnected from mainstream politics.

Then tonight, store-manager-turns-Prime-Minister, Jane Horrocks took up the baton in The Amazing Mrs Pritchard.  The programme itself was pretty awful as TV goes but it was fun to see the BBC pick up on the political disengagement story in a fun manner with cameos from many of their political journalists such as Kirsty Wark, Gavin Esler and Peter Snow.  Funniest part for me as an ex-Westminster resident was that the owner of he supermarket chain (and backer of the Purple Alliance) was none other than Kitty Porter.  Mind you the store that Jane Horrocks managed looked more Asda than Tescos.

UPDATE: UKIP has snuck in there quickest and registered www.purplealliance.org to redirect people to their site. 


1 Comment

Andrew Eglinton · 14th October 2006 at 2:19 pm

There is no ‘engagement’ in Cameron’s online ‘initiative’ – it is publicity pure and simple, he is fighting for ranking and it’s part of his PR image campaign, as such I have no respect for what his blog and cannot take it seriously. Few politicians have ever dared speaking from the heart, and those that have use it in wittingly in their favour. Cameron is no different and I would not be surprised if we see him appear on YouTube at some point, after all it seems to work for Paris Hilton doesn’t it?

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