In his mystic post on Telegraph Blogs alleging that "CCHQ are too scared" to allow their candidates to blog, Damian Thompson is referring to me. whilst I am gratified both at being described as "well-known" (read: uses Twitter) and an "ultra-Cameroon" (read: is not Gerald Warner), it is slightly mystifying that he could have got this one so wrong, since Holy Smoke is easily the best of the Telegraph blogs and as a Catholic (albeit a lousy one) I enjoy it immensely.
It's true that Damian asked me to blog for Telegraph blogs. He says I was keen, I was probably being polite, but OK. Like lots of candidates and politicians, I get offered media opportunities on a regular basis. And I suppose I tend to blog more than most. I like the conversational nature of Twitter. I have a Facebook account. I've blogged for ConHome for years in various formats. None of these things have ever been submitted to, or censured by, anybody at CCHQ. Nothing is sent to them in advance. This blog was not.
What I do do, like any sensible candidate, perhaps especially a first-time PPC, is ask the advice of the press office as to whether this piece of PR or that would be helpful or useful. I am a woman candidate, who is a novelist in her day job. This combo means I get a fair bit of press coverage already. Sometimes you don't want to do too much of it. The press office might advise us that a journalist looking for a story is going to give it a negative spin; they know the players in the papers better than we do. In this case I asked both CCHQ and my constituency association if blogging for the Telegraph was a good idea. The general reaction was that during an election campaign, we should be concentrating on bread and butter stuff - I am doing public meetings and coffee mornings around the seat at the moment, and was late in posting this rebuttal because when Damian put up his allegations of cowardy custardness I was on my way out of the door to speak at a meeting of Thrapston & Raunds Rotary club.
It has nothing to do with going off-message or being muzzled. CCHQ have never said one word about my multiple blogs for ConHome or my regular Twittering. It's merely a question of not being over-exposed and of doing the sort of campaigning that matters right now - getting out there and talking to voters, over and over again.
Damian says sternly that the offer to blog for Telegraph blogs no longer remains open. I feel a little like the lass in the nursery rhyme: "Nobody asked you, sir," she said. As I dried my tears at the vision of the priceless opportunity that would no longer be mine, I consoled myself with the thought that in the last couple of weeks I have also declined invitations to be featured campaigning in the Sunday Times, the Sunday People, and the New Statesman, and several offers to appear on Sky News doing paper reviews and the like. I did accept the chance to be featured, with other candidates, in the Sun, which has a good readership in Corby. Some media requests you take up, some you decline. It would be pretty stupid of me not to heed the advice of press officers who have been around the block and know far more about this stuff than I ever will.
But censorship and limiting what I say as a candidate? Has never happened. Didn't then, and didn't tonight. You can follow me on Twitter here , and you can follow the very entertaining and witty Mr. Thompson here. But this evening, Damian, no Cinnabons for you!
