ConservativeHome has become the place where British conservatives come together to debate the direction of the Tory Party and the other issues that motivate them. The last week was another record week for ConservativeHome with traffic up 10% on the previous week's high. These pages are full of life, energy, laughter and anger every day, but...
Can we turn our online community into an online campaign? That's the hope of today's launch of the Chameleon Army.
We all saw last Tuesday's DaveTheChameleon attack on David Cameron. A second instalment is now online. Some of us see desperation in the nature of Labour's attacks. It reminded William Norton of Nye Bevan's 'the Tories are lower than
vermin' remarks of 1948. Vermin Clubs sprang up all over the country in response to Nevan's attack with
the aim of recruiting new Tory members for the Conservatives. Those who recruited ten new party members wore
badges identifying them as 'vile vermin'; those who recruited twenty
were 'very vile vermin'. Margaret Thatcher was an early member of the
Vermin Club.
The Chameleon Army is the 21st century equivalent of the Vermin Club. It's not interested in recruiting Tory members. It wants to spread understanding of conservative ideas on the internet. The Army will create and fund viral email campaigns against all enemies of conservatism.
In last week's Telegraph Alice Thomson was sure that Labour had picked the wrong animal...
"The chameleon actually looks rather sweet, cycling around London in a huge helmet. But chameleons wouldn't have been the animal I'd have chosen. For a start, they are extremely smart at outwitting their foe. The word means "earth lion", so named because of their ferocious behaviour. If you surprise a chameleon, it will inflate its body, hiss and lunge forward. Contrary to popular belief, their colour changes are not just the result of their surroundings, but are an expression of mood - they play a part in communication and rivalry fights. Chameleons use their tongue to capture prey and their strong jaws to crush it. Even the smallest chameleon is capable of eating a praying mantis. Labour HQ might like to think again."
ConservativeHome's ChameleonArmy.com is today launching a £2,000 prize fund to engage the creative minds of Britain's conservative movement (and anyone wanting to earn a few pounds). We want ideas for mini-videos and viral email campaigns that can be used against Labour or any other enemy of conservatism. We're looking for humour and bite. There's a lot of material out there - the NHS crisis, loans-for-peerages, mass prisoner releases... The best three ideas will be put on the forthcoming ChameleonArmy.com website and visitors will have the chance to vote on which one will be developed into a major campaign. Those entries that have already been programmed into usable forms will be strongly preferred for the shortlist of three.
The winner of the online vote will receive a £1,000 cheque and 5% of any revenues generated by an appeal that will accompany it. The two shortlisted runners-up will both receive £500.
Please feel free to propose ideas in the thread below but the preference would be for ideas to be kept confidential at this stage by emailing tim@conservativehome.com. The deadline for entries is a fortnight today, 10th May.
The Chameleon Army is not part of the Conservative Party and all Full Rainbow Chameleon members of the army will take part in a special vote to choose whether the army's second campaign should be against the whole idea of taxpayer-funding of political parties (something advocated by David Cameron). How do you become a Full Rainbow Chameleon member? Here's how...
You can be a FULL RAINBOW CHAMELEON if you make a £100+ donation to the Fighting Fund.
You can be a KOMODO DRAGON CHAMELEON if you contribute £50.
You can be a JUNIOR LIZARD CHAMELEON if you contribute £20 to the Chameleon Army's Fighting Fund.
Please enlist in the Chameleon Army by making a donation - through the standard ConservativeHome PayPal account - of whatever amount by clicking on the link below...
That's the headline in this morning's Daily Mail after Charles Clarke said the Prime Minister had "lost his sense of purpose and direction". The sacked Home Secretary called for the besieged Prime Minister to set a date for his departure and for that "orderly handover" to his successor.
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