The winner of the new media award is Guido Fawkes' video of Gordon Brown, then still Chancellor, apparently picking his nose while sat next to Tony Blair at PMQs. If you've never seen it - hundreds of thousands have - here it is:
The video beat the Conservatives Abroad website and its targeting of ex-pat voters and the Tax Pacman game launched by the Conservatives at last year's Party Conference.
More than 8,000 people took part in the vote to choose between the shortlisted entries in each category. We've been announcing winners on an almost daily basis. Yesterday's winner of the internationalist award was Ben Rogers of the Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission.
I thought Guido's blog today, highlighting that Cameron and Brown appear to have fiddled (at least the spirit of the rules) their expenses by around 20k was excellent.
They really are all at it.
Posted by: Chad Noble | March 19, 2008 at 21:40
It's a personal shame that Conservatives Abroad didn't get it - championed by PragueTory and myself, but I think your choice is definitely the right one.
One thing to take from these Awards: the runners-up have also all been strong contenders. We have strength in depth which is the real victory.
Posted by: Geoff | March 19, 2008 at 21:44
Personally I can't think of anything more pathetic than to laud a video of a politician picking his nose.
While I wholeheartedly disgaree with the policies of Brown and the Labour party I do reserve his unrestricted right to pick his nose as much as he wants. Once we start monitoring the every move of our politicians there's no knowing where we'll end up, it doesn't do any good and it can only do harm.
Posted by: Will Stobart | March 19, 2008 at 23:11
Will, the award is about New Media - using YouTube, Facebook, etc as innovative ways to get a political message across in a way which wasn't possible or even considered a few years ago.
Nose picking is not the underlying reason for getting the award - an "anonymous" blogger on a politically satirical and incisive website has gained clout outside of the blogsphere and started a story which hit the mainstream media. This is happening more and more.
This award represents the power of Guido's blog, and although CH recused themselves from accepting any nominations also consider the growing influence which Tim, Sam and CH have.
Think outside the box a little more.
And don't pick your nose in public either.
Posted by: Geoff | March 20, 2008 at 07:22
I remember the images of John Redwood singing the Welsh national anthem. This showed that Redwood has not even taken the first basic steps to master his brief, and demonstrated the extraordinary weakness of the Tories in Wales. Likewise, Neil Kinnock falling into the see, or Thatcher standing in the ruins of Battersea Power Station.
This isn't any kind of political message at all - it's just puerile. Perhaps we should dig out a video of Cameron taking a dump? Judging by his recent exploitation of his own family, perhaps it's not impossible.
Guido and CH, should stick to issues of substance, or at least with a genuine satirical purpose. Still, if this is the best of all the possible candidates for the award, it shows the weakness of your position.
Posted by: passing leftie | March 20, 2008 at 12:00
"into the see" Kinnock has become the Pope now?
But, "passing leftie" you undermine your own point. Everyone remembers John Redwood - one of the greatest economic thinkers of our generation and a huge loss to the office of Chancellor - as someone who lost his career though some badly videotaped poor singing.
That's about all the man-in-the-street now remembers about him. And the unfair 'Vulcan' bit too, I concede. But that's it.
That's the whole point of this video. It is a Vulcan Bad Singing moment. Not something you should ever judge a career on, but a great example of how the New Media is becoming a rising force in politics.
Posted by: Geoff | March 20, 2008 at 12:32
"into the see" Kinnock has become the Pope now?
I'm not too hot on homophones (this is not a feed line!) If he'd walked on water, now that would have been impressive.
But, "passing leftie" you undermine your own point. Everyone remembers John Redwood - one of the greatest economic thinkers of our generation and a huge loss to the office of Chancellor - as someone who lost his career though some badly videotaped poor singing.
I don't agree that they are equivalent - but the singing showed something important about him and the Tory party, that he hadn't mastered his brief, was not in touch with the people for whom he was responsible, and that the Tories couldn't even find a someone who knew the Welsh anthem, or could be bothered to learn it, to represent Wales.
What equivalence does this show? Brown picks his nose in public - an ill-advised personal habit. Where is the satirical intent? Not that I want to encourage you, but surely there is better footage of Brown doing or saying something which undermines his public persona - I don't know, him selling gold or something. It's just not going to catch on.
Posted by: passing leftie | March 20, 2008 at 12:41
I believe that they are equivalent by their triviality. How many Cornish MP's can sing in Cornish? Running the Principality whilst not being able to remember the words to a song in another language is no more or less relevant to being able to do his job than a person who excavates his nasal cavity live on television shows he is or is not capable of being Chancellor/PM.
There are many reasons Broon was a dreadful Chancellor that we could pick and John Redwood's Welsh record doubtless has holes we could dig in to as well < /pun alert = off >
However the point of the New Media Award is that now there is a new way of spreading an understanding of what a person is really like in unguarded moments - I think we agree on that much.
Remember Senator George Allen from Virginia who lost his seat in 2006 after video of him surfaced on the internet calling a Democrat infiltrator at a private re-election meeting a "macaca"?
30 seconds of YouTube cost a very talented Senator who was a prospective 2008 Presidential candidate his political career. That is what we are highlighting here - the way political reporting is changing.
Posted by: Geoff | March 20, 2008 at 13:37
Guido fawkes is identifying just how many people have their nose in the trough
Its OK for David Cameron to talk big but he is just as bad as the rest of them
Now is the time to set an example thank goodness for Guido
Many of us do lots of voluntary political work at local level and even we are being tarred with the brush of corruption
Posted by: Gordon | March 20, 2008 at 15:08