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Conservatives dominate the top 20 most mentioned politicians of 2012

By Matthew Barrett
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The annual newspaper index report by Hanover Communications into media coverage of MPs shows that 12 of the top 20 most-mentioned politicians are Conservatives. The index, which measures newspaper coverage over the last year, shows few Labour frontbenchers have media profiles, with only Ed Balls and Ed Miliband featuring in the list.

I list below the top twenty politicians and the number of mentions they received:

  • David Cameron - 18384
  • George Osborne - 9531
  • Ed Miliband - 6211
  • Nick Clegg - 6155
  • Boris Johnson - 3320
  • Michael Gove - 2844
  • Tony Blair - 2694
  • Gordon Brown - 2387
  • Ed Balls - 2201
  • Vincent Cable - 2061
  • Theresa May - 1743
  • Andrew Lansley - 1621
  • William Hague - 1580
  • Jeremy Hunt - 1525
  • John Major - 960
  • Ken Livingstone - 861
  • Andrew Mitchell - 858
  • Nadine Dorries - 857
  • Iain Duncan Smith - 857
  • Ed Davey - 823
The report notes that nearly half of all Lib Dem mentions featured Nick Clegg, demonstrating that party's reliance on their leader for media coverage.

Amongst backbench MPs, former Cabinet ministers are prominent, as are campaigning MPs - and err, one rarely seen former Prime Minister:

  • Gordon Brown - 2387
  • Andrew Mitchell - 858
  • Nadine Dorries - 857
  • Christopher Huhne - 696
  • Alistair Darling - 623
  • George Galloway - 556
  • David Davis - 518
  • Liam Fox - 438
  • John Mann - 438
  • Philip Davies - 415

A fuller report on media coverage of politicians can be seen here.

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