There is a chance that David Miliband might write a Foreign Office blog once he has settled into his new post as Foreign Secretary. It has not been ruled out, according to Ross Ferguson, Director of the Hansard Society’s eDemocracy programme, who I met yesterday.
There is no reason why it cannot be done with sensitivity and regard to confidentiality, while at the same time facilitating an open and public debate on foreign affairs.
It will provide an interactive platform to discuss Iraq and Iran, Israel and Africa, as well as our relationship with Washington, and so much more.
Let’s hope he can twist his brother Ed’s arm too. Ross’s vision is for an interactive and listening government with one aggregate site of ministers who write blogs. He sees no reason why Gordon Brown’s staff can’t do the same on his behalf, posting a few lines about his meetings and visits to get a conversation going. All this is perfectly possible.
And why aren’t our Shadow ministers writing blogs, I ask myself? Why aren’t they interacting and getting feedback about future policy?
This quote from Stephen Coleman, a professor of political communications in a report on conversational democracry, says it all:
“The great challenge is not to change people so that they connect with politics, but to change politics so it connects with the people.”
This is one way of doing it.
[…] White House Link to Article iraq David Miliband might write Foreign Office blog » Posted at Ellee Seymour – MCIPR, PRESS CONSULTANT, JOURNALIST, POLITICAL AND PR BLOGGER. on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 [ _42436066_miliband3_afp203b] There is a chance that David Miliband might write a Foreign Office blog once he has settled into his new post as … an open and public debate on foreign affairs. It will provide an interactive platform to discuss Iraq View Entire Article » […]
If DM does start writing a FO blog(I rather suspect he won’t), it will be probably a bit on the dull side once the civil service mandarins have excised anything remotely interesting.
I tend to agree with Istanbul Tory. And a GB blog might read a bit like a court circular – just a list of who he meets and where, with even that being subject to censorship for security purposes.
I’d read an FO blog if the minister were going to write it himself but that seems unlikely.
[…] According to political blogger Ellee Seymour: […]
I think David Miliband recognises the huge potential here, I would not be surprised if he started, and persuaded his brother to as well.
[…] I did predict back in July that he might be blogging again as Foreign Secretary. I like his approach, despite our different political backgrounds. He is the only minister who wants to write a blog, and he should have credit for that. […]