OPEN

There’s an interesting tale doing the rounds of influencers on the right of UK politics giving their own a bit of a pre-emptive kicking. It seems to show political bloggers here jockeying for position for what seems like a likely regime change when Gordon Brown and the decaying New Labour project shuffle out of power in a year or two.

Tory bloggers (and Tory friends – Guido Fawkes is *not* a Tory, he emphasises) have looked a lot more lively on the social media side of things over the last couple of years. Reasons for this – they were hungrier for debate and reinvention, they are and perhaps just more open to new ideas at this time.

Control and channel media, as we know, go hand in hand and New Labour’s success was defined in many ways by its mastery of mainstream media manipulation. It’s hard to let go of a winning formula, even when it’s not winning anymore.

Anyhow, Mark Hanson picks up the grubby threads:

Westminster circles were buzzing yesterday because ConservativeHome and Guido Fawkes had joined forces (swapping research, swapping sources, referencing each other) to uncover the expenses sleaze of a succession of Tory MEPs and the mobilise as a block to force David Cameron to kick them out of the Party.

Bloggers calling for blood is nothing new but ConHome and Guido have relied on Tory HQ briefings to give them so much information, access and help with sleaze investigations into the government, which has built their profile and muscle. Was this their way of demonstrating that they are in no way in Cameron’s pocket? That they are attack dogs who will turn on the powerful whichever Party flag they fly?

A charitable view would be that it is nice to see right-wing bloggers cleaning their own house. But I’m sure there’s more to this than that…