Next week we'll be opening the online vote for the 2007 Conservative Blog Awards. Over the next few days we'll be running through the three finalists in each category. Here is the parliamentary shortlist:
Nadine Dorries MP - This daily dose of raw honesty and emotion has attracted a massive daily following inside and outside of Nadine's constituency. Some of her more traditional parliamentary colleagues think she is crazy for writing the things she does but most are secretly jealous. Nadine approves many of the comments herself and frequently responds to them (usually with several exclamation marks!!!). This blog, essential reading for every Fleet Street diarist and proof that women can excel in the male-dominated blogosphere, will make Nadine more famous than most shadow cabinet members if she continues her mix of insights into the latest episode of Desperate Housewives and what the junior doctors crisis means for patient care. More than anything else Nadine's blog is succeeding in demystifying what it means to be an MP.
Dan Hannan MEP - Dan Hannan's blog has quickly become one of the most popular that is hosted by The Telegraph. Always provacative, often amusing, every post attracts a good number of comments. Lifting the lid on the goings-on in Brussels the Hannan blog is also very internationalist. Recent weeks have seen Dan post on Iran, Switzerland, USA and Bolivia. Why The Telegraph hasn't given Mr Hannan a more regular column in the main newspaper is a mystery but Eurosceptics can delight in his regular postings in cyberspace and the Europhiles can be jealous at the platform enjoyed by this one MEP who (unlike his daughter) has refused to go native.
John Redwood MP - All blogs reflect their author's personality and just as Nadine's blog is very personal and friendly, John Redwood's blog is serious and often combative. But readers seem to appreciate that. The blog provides regular insights into the European project, government waste, Gordon Brown's burdens on the economy, the dangers of state funding of political parties and it offers a sceptical view of a big government approach to combating climate change. This scepticism on command-and-control approaches to the environment has propelled this blog into the headlines on a couple of occasions. In terms of intellectual seriousness the Redwood Diary almost certainly leads the field.
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