Digital Trail

I follow a number of people on Twitter with an interest in politics. I noticed, by chance, that one of them had linked to a website for prospective parliamentary candidate, Jacob Rees-Mogg. My interest was piqued as I am familiar with the gaffe prone Mr Mogg, the Tory candidate for North East Somerset. Mr Mogg is looking to gain the Labour seat currently held by Dan Norris MP.

In my previous employment as a journalist for ‘The Week in’ newspaper, in Keynsham, I had dealt with both the aforementionned gentlemen on a number of occassions and found Mr Mogg to be every plaid inch the stereotypical Tory that Cameron is trying not to include in his party – at a senior level – at least.

The website that I came across was www.jacobreesmogg.org.uk. A reasonably convincing site resplendent in the blue branding of the current Tory design scheme and would, for some, make you believe the site was the genuine website of Jacob Rees-Mogg. Mr Mogg for some reason has chosen not to landgrab a suitable vanity URL for his site proper and instead resides online behind the cumbersome http://www.northeastsomersetconservatives.co.uk/ which has itself opened himself up to someone pretending to be him or in part and to his detriment.

The .org website, in small print, outlines its spoof credentials but given Mr Mogg’s previous form, the line between reality and fiction are somewhat blurred from the get go. You can catch up on previous misdemeanours on the Wikipedia entry or that boxset of Ali G that is collecting dust in a charity shop near you.

So, the question that lay begging before me was, ‘Who was behind this website?’ Surely time and money could be better spent by Dan Norris, fighting for his very precious parliamentary life, by doing something more positive. I for one would love to see him active on Twitter and in the social media space where political campaigning is gathering momentum. (Heck, I would even offer to train, assit, do it for free – I like a challenge)

Maybe it was a loyal staffer who had been chronicling the efforts of Mr Mogg over the years and keeping a scrapbook of mishaps (or Moggisms). If this website came from within Dan Norris’ camp I would be suprised and disappointed. Mr Norris has a real fight on for his survival and in the wake of the Kraft/Cadbury fiasco (much of which was beyond his control) support will be lesser than previous elections, that and the boundary changes favour the Tories too.

I decided to undertake some rudimentary research. The clues were a drip feed from the start. This website had been set up by someone with exstensive knowledge of Mr Mogg, someone who is fiercely loyal to the Labour party, with a hint of too much time, and seemingly, a fond regard for the negative campaigning tactics of Damian McBride.

In the end it was almost too easy and like an episode of ‘Hetty Wainthrop investigates’, I could draw this out further in order to get to the whodunnit conclusion but I have seemingly waffled enough. A simple search of the website URL with a domain registration site revealed the details of the assailant.Hadleigh is a former President of the University of Bath Labour Club and loves nothing more than a cheeky blog and a bit of Tory bashing. If he was trying to hide all traces of being behind the Rees Mogg Blog, a site that is tactically (however poorly executed) intended to undermine the opposition, then he has scored a bit of a Moggism himself.

One of the things that has struck me about the presence of political activists and the politicians themselves on Twitter is the cheap point scoring and venomous sniping at ‘the other’ and yes this is partly what politics is like offline but if more time was spent using the platforms of social media for social good then so much the better.

+++UPDATE+++ I finished working at ‘The Week in’ as of May 2009 – You can find The Week in online HERE

This week sees the expansion of the humble ‘Keynsham and Saltford Times’ title, a weekly paid for publication, into a fully blown newspaper title that has a greater coverage, greater readability and a chance to really weave itself into the media fabric of life for those who live between Keynsham and Warmley and every Village, Town, Common, Green that exists in-between. Oh it also has the more succinct title of ‘The Week in‘ and wont cost you a penny.

It contains real community rooted journalism that highlights the major issues and reports them factually allowing the reader to make up their own mind on what they think on any given issue.The new design is based on feedback and experience built up over the previous 59 weekly issues that those in the know have come to love and anticipate every 7 days.

The paper will now be mass printed and be free to pick up anywhere and everywhere, be it pub, club or Post Office. You will hear about it and you will want to be a part of the ever expanding readership. The paper has shrunk in size to a more manageable A4 but is still printed on the higher quality paper. There are more pages than ever and so the amount of content has naturally increased also. Look out for your FREE copy of ‘The Week in‘ from this Thursday and hopefully you will get as much out of it as is put in by the small, hard-working editorial team of two.