The Sunday Times reports that David Miliband is to become the first member of the British cabinet to write a weblog:
Miliband intends to address “the policies of other departments” and publicise his views on a range of subjects.
His spokesman said yesterday that his blog would be an “innovative way” of gauging reaction to government policy, “not racey details of his breakfast habits”.
Miliband has been testing his new blog with colleagues in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, but it cannot yet be seen by the general public.
Miliband is one of the Labour Party’s rising stars, and widely tipped as a future leader, so suppose he has taken a look at blogging, and the impact it can have on politics in the US. Although British bloggers haven’t really had the same impact on the Westminster political scene yet, I’d imagine he is gambling that, as the British blogosphere matures, he will gain extra kudos among bloggers by being one of the first (in government at least) to leap on the blogging bandwagon.
It’s an interesting idea, and I wish him all the best with it. I can’t but feel, however, that his attempts to speak to ‘the people’ through blogging will be stifled by a converservative and over-cautious civil service, and the fears of his cabinet colleagues.
The Sunday Times report notes that there are already concerns that he might over-step his ministerial remit by blogging:
“Because, on occasion, David does mention the policies of other departments, for example green or white papers that have been published, I have agreed with the Cabinet Office that I would write to other departments proposing a way of dealing with this issue,” writes O’Donnell.
“I propose that for those cases where he simply mentions the publication of a document by another department saying it is a good thing or words to that effect, there is no need to seek formal agreement.
“However, where his reference goes into more detail this office will contact the relevant private office to agree what is being said.” He said he hoped this could be done quickly.
But really, I can’t see how this would be any different from a minister appearing on – say – Question Time, and answering questions from the public on any topical subject.
Depressingly, though, I imagine Miliband’s conservative (with a small ‘c’) colleagues will have their way, and whatever he does actually does blog about will be so sanitised and watered down (another way of saying this would be “dull”) that it could have been written by an civil service mandarin.
Still, we’ll see. I’m certainly looking forward to the blog’s official launch, and I’d love to find out just what he’s is writing about on his current government eyes-only blog.