Elections: what the bloggers say
Updated on 02 May 2008
Local election-watching: as the results trickle in, how have the party faithfuls (and not-so-faithfuls) reacted on the country's biggest political blog sites?
Labour
Election catastrophe? What election catastrophe? The top story on grassroots website Labourhome, under a Vote for Ken banner, is "We gained seats in St Helens and Liverpool".
"We seemed to have bucked the trend in Merseyside by gaining two seats in St Helens and four in Liverpool. The rest of the country is worrying, but we hope that there is a re-think on some more progessive policies. Lets hope we can still win in London," posts Wiseman.
That's not (quite) the end to the good news:
"In Norwich we lost two to the Tories but gained two from the Lib Dems, it's a little disappointing since we were hoping to take a third," comments CitizenAndreas.
"We gained four in Oxford..." adds Oxymoron.
Notably little discussion of election results on the site's blogs page: the top topic at lunchtime was "Is election literature junk mail?". A handful of activists debate whether election leaflets should be shoved into letterboxes marked no junk mail. Useful for next time, perhaps.
Conservatives
On independent Tory site Conservativehome, things are rather more jubilant.
The Tory's mounting wins - and a bit of Labour-bashing - are racking up on the live blog:
"Naughty Tony. Front page of Evening Standard has a smiling photo of Tony Blair from a party in Mayfair last night." 12.03pm
"It looks like we've made gains in Reading but not enough. One of the few disappointments of the night." 11.23am
"Chirpy Hazel Blears has just been on Sky News, surely the last person Labour should have on if they want to appear realistic and contrite. That said, even she is struggling to grin at these results." 9.54am
And the Tories are gathering to celebrate (and discuss possible ballot box fraud) in the interactive chatroom.
"Year Year. What a magnificent day to be a Tory!!" says Neil.
"Huhne on Sky right now saying that Liberals are the only properly national party - is his brain falling to pieces?" says David (One of many).
Liberal Democrats
Lib Dem Voice, which is run by Lib Dem members, activists and bloggers, is stamping its foot over the BBC's alleged under-reporting of Lib Dem success, particularly the party's huge victory in Northumberland.
"BBC blunder: News 24 has just been reporting how the big shock in Northumberland is that Labour and Tories have the same number of councillors. But they didn't mention that Liberal Democrats gained a dozen seats, overtaking both of them."
"Earth calling BBC, Earth calling BBC: Liberal Democrats have gained control of Burnley and Sheffield, but there's no mention in your regular rolling news round-up, which is still stuck on using news from yesterday."
Still, it's not all televisual bad news, at least not for the Lib Dems:
"How to tell how bad the results are for Labour: the TV news keeps on using footage of John Major to illustrate the story..."
Guido Fawkes
"On Wednesday Brown mocked Nick Clegg as a calamity, so how must it feel to be beaten by him this morning?" wonders right-wing libertarian Guido.
The London mayoral election - and predictions of a Boris win - have been the comment-sparker of the day.
The site picks up a post saying Irish bookie Paddy Power has been paying out on bets on Boris several hours early.
Comments under a map of London labelled Boristown include:
"Oh Happy Day!... [Boris] took NuLabour away!" Silent Hunter
"For the first time since '97 (despite a brief respite in 1995 when we won the Ashes) I'm proud to be an Englishman." 215cu
Iain Dale's Diary
A running commentary from former Conservative candidate Iain Dale:
"Alan Duncan was excellent on Sky just now. In fact, I haven't seen a bad performance yet by a Tory spokesman today." 3.12pm
"Let's remember that one fifth of the 230 Tory gains so far have come from Wales. A lot of people deserve a lot of credit." 2.25pm
"Geoff Hoon has form on this. He's like Hitler's spokesman immediately after Stalingrad had surrendered saying: 'Disaster, what disaster'. Even as we speak, The Fuehrer is planning a new offensive..." 10.02am
