Ken Clarke attacks ConHome as that "blasted website"

By Tim Montgomerie
_{Follow Tim on Twitter}

This was the moment on last night's BBC Question Time when Ken Clarke attacked ConservativeHome, after falsely attacking the "Murdoch press":

I am, of course, grateful to Ken for the publicity and also grateful to Arthur Stevens for posting the video on YouTube.

As I Tweeted last night, ConHome doesn't pretend we represent all activists (although media outlets often do) but I would argue we are much closer to most activists on issues like the EU, ECHR, tax, climate change and crime than the Justice Secretary ever has been or ever will be. I should add that we're also closer to most members of the public on those issues.

What we do do is give more Tory members more of a voice than they had in the pre-internet age. As I told Sunday's Observer when Toby Helm profiled ConHome, this site is like the Tory Conference that never stops. Every day we are discussing the issues that would characterise a good conference fringe programme. I understand why politicians like Ken Clarke would rather the Eurosceptic masses left the running of the country to 'grown-ups' like him... but those days are over.