« Fox to build anti-federalist defence coalition | Main | Support for heterosexual marriage and gay partnerships »


If the partys' website is to be a success it must be more interactive with a comment section to encourage repeated use.Comments could be moderated as Iain Dale does very successfully.
I would like to see coverage of the work of our more 'unsung' Shadow Cabinet members and also a section where local associations can pass good ideas to each other.
It would be naive to suggest that this website could ever be critical of the party as Conservativehome sometimes is but a forum for debate and openness would be very welcome.

I have Conservatives.com RSS feed on my website, along with a feed from the Limp Dums (Labour don't seem to have one)

I can't help noticing that the Lib Dems update their news more regularly.

Serf - Lib Dems pile out press releases several times a day and they don't get reported in the wider press. CCHQ sticks to one or less a day to retain focus.

Even as a poltical obsessive I've stopped paying attention to the Lib Dem news feed.

Why don't we issue press releases/update the website at the weekends? We live in the 21stC for goodness sake!

£22,000 isn't much, is it?

"£22,000 isn't much, is it?"

It is if it is a monthly figure.. :-)

£22k a year is a joke surely.

I agree that a bunch of news pushed out over RSS is not really that helpful. I too have given up on the LD newsfeed -there is only so much "Lib Dems demnad action on dog poo" I can put up with.

I hear all this stuff about making the site more interactive but am really troubled by what that means. In the US the GOP has started a new initiative called mygop. I think we should give something like that a try.


They wont attract much interest with that salary. Have a look a the Canadian Conservatives web site. I like their idea of the video section.

What's missing from Conservatives.com is the catalogue of Labour cock-ups; the official version of the Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze (for which there was such great demand that it sold out within 36 days.)

One of the things I would do is make sure all target seat local associations have websites and a point of contact. Perhaps by having regional website directors to keep content up to date.

Also MPs and candidates need their e-mail addresses professionalising. Having Pamela anderson as an advertised e-mail address looks rather amateurish.

My view is that there are two distinct audiences here. The party website cant do somet things that say a ConservativeHome site can do. There are some things the party site could do better. As a candidate I often found it tricky to find things I was looking for in the midst of an election.

I would suggest that whoever is in charge has a think about what the purpose of the website actually is, and look at a restructure so that you don't need to go through several clicks to find what you are looking for.

On a similar subject whatever happened to Conseravtivesdirect?

The key thing is ease of use and the ease by which one can find information.

Seems at the moment that there is no coherent "route" one should take to find information - for example what is really the difference between "Campaigns" and "Challenges" - should they not be more or less the same.

A coherent structure should have sections to a.) Identify the problem b.) Offer our solutions to change c.) Offer a section for direct feedback and comments d.) Offer a well organised section of resources for campaigners and candidates (this may need to be password protected).

Certainly is pleasing to see that the party is identifiying a slick up todate and user friendly site as critical to modern campaigning.

"£22k a year is a joke surely." It's not great money if the applicant has to be based in London. Up here (as you will know, Andrew) it is positively MEGA-bucks!

True Comstock. Can't see many IT specialists wanting to work for that money in London though.

Can the job only be done from London?

The Conservative party is a London party. They don't want yokels and provincials from beyond the M25 disturbing their metropolitan mindset.

What would be helpful - and very refreshing - would be the addition on the website of an accurate and authentic briefing note to any important topic, including any independently verified stats and figures available.
I am sure that we are all thoroughly fed up with Blair - and Brown even more - parroting facts and figures in order to avoid answering the question asked, when so many of the figures are half-truths at best.
We are not always going to get it right but let us at least strive to have honest and rational debates. I think we already have better arguments than Nulab, so those should prevail in the end.
It all starts with policies that are based on principles acceptable to the majority.

David, the Research Dept make a lot of those kind of factual briefings internally anyway - I suppose there isn't much harm in making some of them public.

"£22k a year is a joke surely."

Steve Hilton gets 13 times that much for his part-time post.

Unless of course the Conservative Party has "regularised" it in the meantime. Strange they haven't said anything. Probably takes ages and ages to "regularise" these things.

Personally I think they should save the £22K and just re-direct the website to here, a lot more useful!


She sometimes posts here....in the GoldList section she told me off because I called Greenway "Greenwood"!

Fair enough Andrea. I still stand by the point that all e-mail addresses should be [email protected]

Sorry Pamela if you are reading.

That really is an awful salary to offer: pay peanuts, get monkeys...

Maybe the editor can get 25% of any advertising revenue the site generates as an incentive?

Andrew, I understand what you mean.

Here's what I would do;

1. Complete redesign
Something more stylish, minimalist and modern. Maybe something like the Canadian's http://www.conservative.ca/ website.

2. Localism
Have a default 'mini site' for each local association. The header image, welcome paragraph from candidate etc would change depending on constituency, but all would be the same format for ease/speed/cheapness - plus not needing many skills. Each would have a blog to be updated weekly at least. All hosted on conservatives.com main site, so fully integrated. Roll this out for MEPs, Lords, councillors, in the end everyone basically.

3. Tory TV
Video on demand downloads.

4. Comic
A 'lighter side' feature, including video downloads and joke emails to be sent on to people.

I second almost everything above. Not least what Justin H says about a weekend service. Conservatives.com must also get a lot quicker. At the time of this comment, for example, the full text of David Cameron's family speech still hasn't been posted.

Speed, less clutter & more easy interactivity to be contacted about specific issues/areas of interest to allow more focussed contact by the party with its supporters.

The salary in the ad has been upped today from £22K to £22K-£26K. Someone is paying attention to your views!

The comments to this entry are closed.



ConHome on Twitter

    follow me on Twitter

    Conservative blogs

    Today's public spending saving

    New on other blogs

    • Receive our daily email
      Enter your details below:

    • Tracker 2
    • Extreme Tracker