Most people will not have heard of Kerry McCarthy, the MP for Bristol East. She is Labour’s Twitter Tsar, charged with the difficult job of getting Labour’s message across on Twitter. I have had the odd discussion with her, as have many other conservative tweeters. Unsurprisingly, I don’t agree with her very much and she seems to have attracted a hate following from bloggers like Tory Bear.
None of that bothers me in the slightest. Adults using their right to freedom of speech is to be encouraged. What I cannot see the point of is the latest campaign called #KerryOut. In 
a nutshell, this campaign is trying to raise funds for the Conservative candidate in Bristol East, in a bid to oust Kerry McCarthy at the next general election. I think this campaign is childish. I want a change of government. I want Britain to move away from failed Labour policies and the only other party that can form a government is the Conservative Party. Britain cannot afford another five years of Labour. It cannot afford another five years of economic mismanagement and the bully state. As a Labour MP, Kerry thinks differently, but whether she remains an MP at the next election is up to the voters of Bristol East. It is up to them to decide if they agree with what she stands for and if she has been a good constituency MP. On the latter, I haven’t a clue how hard she works on behalf of her constituents. A big negative campaign to oust her will backfire. The campaign organisers are trying to present this as an independent campaign. This is simply untrue and the electorate in Bristol East will see through it. The British people do not like this sort of politics and voters may well come out and give her a sympathy vote.
To those conservatives backing this campaign, my advice is go out and get your local Conservative candidates elected and leave Bristol to local Conservatives there. This is the way we do it in Britain. An organised, national campaign against individual MPs is something I do not want to be involved with.
7 comments:
Quite right Andrew; negative campaigning is a dangerous road and it would be worth the local party's while to focus on her work as a constituency MP and the potential benefits that a change in direction could achieve. Her majority doesn't look insurmountable, it obviously depends on turnout which given the current public feeling about politics, will go down again I suspect
Thank you, Ralph. You have to focus on issues affecting local people. That's what the voters want and that's what gets candidates elected in winnable seats. Negative campaigning is a turn off and will decrease the turnout even further than it's likely to be.
Seem, I'm not sure I entirely agree. Obviously the Conservative candidate should be campaigning on the issues she feels Kerry has gotten wrong and that she would like to change, particularly in terms of the local issues, and a little extra funding for that never hurts. On the other hand, if a number of people feel that there are wider issues with Kerry as a member of Parliament which are connected to her "Twitter Czar" role among other things, then why shouldn't they highlight this? While an MP represents their constituents directly, they are also part of Parliament and if anyone feels they are ill-suited to the role of governing us, then saying so in whatever way they choose is surely a positive thing. Or am I only allowed to criticise Alan Johnson because he's my MP?
Daniel: Of course you can disagree with anyone you feel like and if you want, you can organise a campaign against anyone too. This is not what I'm talking about though.
Iain Dale has had a spat with Kerry McCarthy on Twitter. She has blocked him. She told me (to paraphrase) that Iain is only interested in publicising himself. I have to agree, but that's not the point. When there is a general election to win next year, and an election that's far from being in the bag, why pursue a vendetta against an MP neither you, Iain Dale, Tory Bear, or I live anywhere near? Concentrate on getting your local candidates elected and leave Kerry to the party in Bristol. I'm sure they can organise an effective campaign and raise funds without the help of a childish vendetta.
No, I see what you mean, it's not so much the fact that they dislike Kerry and want her removed, as the fact that this might become associated with the Conservative candidate and the perception that she is somehow "fighting dirty". Guess only time will tell as to whether anyone particularly notices this campaign (other than the Conservative candidate who is receiving donations) and if it has an effect (positive or negative). Guess it all depends on if a bored journalist in need of a story decides to mention it!
The press will pick up on this. Kerry will make sure of it. Quite what happens after that, well... it could easily become a storm in a tea cup or something she constantly uses on her leaflets that this independent campaign is nothing of the sort. Instead it is lying Tories behind this. It has the possibility to backfire. Unfortunately, self publicists like Tory Bear know little of political campaigning, however, they attract a following that know no better.
Well said Andrew.
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