Report 4 Benn?

As part of Hilary Benn's (deputy Labour leadership candidate) web presence he has a 'Webwatch' section. In arguing "For the first time ever, the Internet is going to have a significant influence on a major internal Labour Party election" and so asks site visitors: "If you're prepared to help be my eyes and ears on the web, please use the form below to direct me to sites and articles that are relevant to this campaign". Why?

Could it be:
a) a covert but novel way to collect the contact details of visitors;
b) to gain an overview of Benn-related web activity to rebut anything negative;
c) to gain an overview of Benn-related web activity to interact with those engaged with his campaign;
d) to find out what sites / issues are of interest to visitors to his site;
e) through interaction, to build a community of interest around himself.

There are perhaps other reasons but it could either be a way to begin a dialogue with an already engaged online community. or just a way to gain information; if the former there is potential for his campaign to move towards a more interactive dimension. Benn gives no clues as to the purpose, maybe he hasnt decided himself yet.

The party's choice?

It seems that the real contest within the Labour Party is not who will replace Blair, but who will will replace Prescott. With those the media call the 'credible candidates' stepping aside to crown Brown, it seems we know who the next PM will be. The Deputy however is highly contested with many of the candidates creating second lives on MySpace and Facebook and setting up campaign centres reminiscent of candidates for the US presidency (but of course on a small scale).

There is a front runner however. Polls indicate Hilary Benn has a lead of anything between 9 and 20 percentage points from his closest rival Alan Johnson. Why might this be. Hilary is the son of perhaps the most famous Labour politician never to become leader, and a man who commands respect within the movement; however Hilary is not the ideological descendant of Tony, he represents a far more pragmatic, modern and dare we say Blairite approach to left wing politics. But that does not mean he is the slavish follower of all things Blairite, he has criticised the war and the government's record on Third World Poverty during his time raising the profile of the Department for International Development; he also claims to be in touch with the grass roots of his Leeds constituency and the party itself. Perhaps this positions him as the right man for the job among party members.

Hilary Benn has also made use of e-communications. He has a blog format website, a campaign website full of credible endorsements, a Facebook profile, though his MySpace page seems to have never quite seemed worth the effort. However the important aspect to the web presence seems his underlying philosophy, he states:

"I want to be your voice as Deputy Leader because I believe we need a more open and more straightforward kind of politics that really listens. Over the coming weeks, I'll be adding lots of interactive features to this site to help you as members and activists say what you think. I hope you will find it makes getting in touch directly with me, and with other supporters in your community and local party to debate our future, that little bit easier"

Rhetoric many may cry, and perhaps it can appear this way and may be proven to be empty long term. However, in the run up to the contest he is being interactive. This creates a pull factor to his sites and may be partially responsible for building and maintaining the momentum behind his campaign. Possibly, however, the fact that he is using the site to interact, something that could be described as best practice for e-political communication, reflects his personal philosophy. Many of those whose votes he is fighting for may well have had contact with him, recognise that the desire to listen is not empty rhetoric and hence the sites become an extension of the man rather than purely a vote winning tool. Yes, there are a lot of 'perhaps' here; but at present it seems to be having an effect.

New Leaders: New Rhetoric: Old Hat

Hilary Benn is to announce that the war on terror is over, or at least use of the phrase will end on the basis that “We do not use the phrase ‘war on terror’ because we can’t win by military means alone... this isn’t us against one organised enemy with a clear identity and a coherent set of objectives,”. Despite, or perhaps because, The Sun in its editorial argued that terrorism is organised and with an identity etc etc, this seems a welcome bit of common sense from the HMG in waiting; though Brown and Benn hardly appear a dream ticket in the polls.

What seems to be absent from comments on Benn's statement is the fact that the phrase War on Terror, a Bushism, is completely nonsensical. The sources of terrorism as Benn is to argue cannot be fought through shock and awe, this has been proven; and besides how do you actually eradicate terror? And how without creating more terror among a different group of innocent (such as the Iraqi people)? Perhaps though we should not abandon the phrase, instead we should make the objectives more realistic - lets nuke the Bogeyman, lets launch a precision offensive on the monster in the closet (whoops was that the bedside lamp?); then again maybe HMG should first consider what would constitute a sensible foreign policy for the current world order and not be too concerned about what to call it.

As an aside, Bush once called the war on terror a fight for freedom;
juxtapose this with the well worn saying "one man's terrorist is another man's
freedom fighter". Ironic eh?

However, back to the point. Given that the media are tipping Benn to be the Deputy PM after Blair, is this the first sweep of the new broom. The signs of change designed to symbolise newness and a shift from a pro-Bush foreign policy and the negative association that are attached to the Blair regime. Is this the first stage in a perception management strategy of distancing Brown from Blair; we shall see!