Leader writers at The Independent got very excited this morning at the town hall-style meetings being held by Nick Clegg:
"When national politicians do not perpetually put themselves about in the modern way – announcing daily initiatives against telegenic backdrops; volunteering to debate on the BBC's Today programme; offering up some segment of their domestic lives via a webcam – they lay themselves open to criticism for not doing their job. Such is the presumed importance of taking a high media profile in this day and age.
As we report today, however, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, has spent his first 14 months in office taking a more softly-softly, more old-style political approach. Less visible on the national stage than Gordon Brown and David Cameron – which perhaps has as much to do with the preference of most media for a duelling style of politics as with any absence from the front line – he has been assiduously tending to the grassroots.
In only a little more than a year, he has held no fewer than 30 town hall meetings all over the country – an average of two a month – and he travels to them by train, second-class. The audiences consist of local people; they are not packed with party loyalists, nor are participants vetted."
All very exciting I'm sure but David Cameron has managed to hold similar town hall meetings (21 in total, see below) and have national media impact. The Conservative leader's Cameron Direct meetings have been a big success. I know from Robert Halfon that the tickets for the Harlow meeting were all taken up before flyers advertising the event had even been distributed. One advert in a local newspaper was enough to attract 250 attendees. These meetings are a real help to the party's efforts in target seats. Meetings held outside elections - like literature - tend to be more winsome because they are viewed as less obviously vote-grabbing. The people who come tend to be community influentials - priests, charity group leaders and so on - and they have time to influence others in the constituency if they were impressed. Iain Dale scored the Direct meeting he attended very highly. My favourite Direct moment was when David Cameron was asked if aliens had visited Earth. Watch the Tory leader's response here.
Tim Montgomerie
South West
Truro, 12/06/2008
Plymouth, 18/06/2008
Swindon, 11/07/2008
South East
Winchester, 14/11/2008
Chatham, 12/01/2009
London
Brentford and Isleworth, 07/07/2008
Croydon, 07/10/2008
Sutton and Cheam, 28/10/2008
Eastern
Harlow, 03/06/2008
East Midlands
Loughborough, 22/07/2008
Brigg and Goole, 05/09/2008
West Midlands
Worcester, 29/08/2008
North West
Barrow in Furness, 13/08/2008
Wirral, 14/08/2008
Yorkshire and Humber
Selby, 02/07/2008
York Outer, 18/09/2008
Pudsey, 17/10/2008
Harrogate, 19/12/2008
North East
Tynemouth, 09/01/09
Scotland
East Renfrewshire, 07/11/2008
Northern Ireland
Belfast, 06/12/08
I dunno if the Tories have managed to sort it out, but when they first started I read that there was a bit of frustration as the vast majority of the people attending were local activists and Tories.
Posted by: Labourboy | February 02, 2009 at 17:54
"I dunno if the Tories have managed to sort it out, but when they first started I read that there was a bit of frustration as the vast majority of the people attending were local activists and Tories."
That was definitely sorted out by the NI event. The event in Belfast had a reasonably wide range of people from all walks of life and political persuasions. There were few local Tories there bar those who were involved in running the event and others who came to help out.
Posted by: AJJM | February 02, 2009 at 18:50
Suprised that this thread has attracted so few comments. One of Cameron's biggest achievements to date has been the successful nullifying of the threat from the Yellow Peril. At one time it seemed that many of our leading lights would lose their seats to them, those days are long past. A remarkable achievement given that Vince Cable is seen as a great statesman by some in the media whilst George is seen as a boy in short trousers!
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | February 02, 2009 at 19:47
Nick Clegg is rubbish:
Nick Clegg = Neil Kinnock sums him up!
Posted by: Martin Day | February 02, 2009 at 22:25
Thick Nick, is a real asset to the party. Thankfully its the conservative party, because he is an utterly useless leader of the Lib-Dem's.May he be the leader of the Lib-Dem's for a long time. What more can you say about this man? He is pretty much a non-entity on the National scene. Any talk of a liberal breakthrough seems to have been forgotten, even by their party faithful.
Posted by: The Bishop Swine | February 03, 2009 at 12:55