BBC's Nick Robinson on Parliament,the lobby system,blogging and of course Mandelson

It is not very often that the BBC's top notch political commentator Nick Robinson gives a interview.

However he has opened up to Iain Dale on his Total Politics site.

In the piece,he tells Dale that politics and parliament have become more significant since we have been in coalition

Parliament is beginning to debate the things that anger, upset, inspire our audience. And the select committees are gradually building their power.

He also tells the magazine that he was probably the first political blogger,starting in 2006 and credits the rise of online as having massively increased the speed of accountability.

He also talks about that famous encounter with Peter Mandelson days after the election as well as commenting on the Westminster lobby system

 I just find the whole debate about the system of reporting in Westminster terribly anal, self-obsessed, tedium. There was a big scandal, and Michael Cockerell, to his enormous credit wrote a book about the lobby system in the early 80s. There’s basically a conspiracy of secrecy, a secret briefing, the very existence of which was an offence against this closed shop to reveal. It could be used to trash a minister’s reputation without anybody ever telling the public where it stemmed from. This just isn’t the case any more

Another Downfall Video

This time Iain Dale is told that he has not won the Orwell prize

Paul Waugh makes it to twitter

Paul Waugh claims that he is the first Westminster Lobby blogger to be on twitter on his blog today.

Finally succumbing to the media after weighing up the arguments the Evening Standard blogger concludes that

Twitter can be a fantastic way of connecting people with what we're reporting and blogging on here at Westminster.

Guido v Draper

Have just caught up with the confrontation between Derek Draper and Paul Staines aka Guido on the Daily politics.

All I will say is that I hope people watching don't think that is what blogging is all about.

They have probably set back the cause of blogging in the eyes of both the public and the politicians.

Enough said !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lib Dem bloggers to the fore

It looks as though the Lib Dems are responding to the Draper effect if this report in PR week is correct.

Up to 100 Lib Dem bloggers are set to convene at the end of this month to thrash out ways in which the party can improve its internet communications.
The assembled bloggers will discuss ways to use the web to mobilise supporters. They will also look in to the possibility of unleashing a ‘star blogger’ to rival Labour’s Derek Draper or the Tory-leaning blogger Iain Dale.

Will a spell of opposition help propel left of centre blogging

the real opportunity for the left-wing blogosphere will be after the General Election when Labour is very, very likely to be in opposition.

says Tim Montgomerie fresh from Progress 2.0 conference adding that

To an enormous extent the debate about Labour's future will take place online. The lazy Westminster media won't have to travel to cold church halls and faraway working men's clubs to take the temperature of Labour's grassroots. It'll all happen in the blogosphere.

Derek Draper's Labourlist has taken a lot of stick over the last few weeks but it is slowly developing into a decent riposte for the many right of centre bloggers.

But I think that Montgomerie may well have got it right.It will take a period of opposition for the Labour side of the blogosphere to get its cat together.

Carry on John

I do take my hat off to John Prescott who despite his lack of articulation on the front benches of the House of Commons has taken to blogging like a duck takes to water.

You can read his blog here but as a taster here is an extract from yesterday

Thanks for leaving your comments - I read them all last night in my hotel room in Strasbourg with my McDonalds.
To the conservative bloggers, thanks for posting. I don't care if you're a 'troll' - as long as your polite I'm prepared to listen and engage with everyone.

Before going on to list Labour's 50 best achievements which includes at No 50 free fruit for all 4-6 year olds and then continues

To the person who keeps Facebooking me about foxhunting and why they'd like to see it back - let me say this. I deplore hunting and the culture that surrounds around it.

Why Labour must get off the starting blocks for new media

Guido has an intetesting insight into the Labour parties problems in getting a blog going that will rival Conservative home.

He reports that

Tomorrow morning Derek Draper is convening a "New Media Breakfast" meeting with dozens of Labour bloggers and New Media types to hear from Blue State Digital how Labour can use the internet to win the next election. Blue State Digital are the people that did Obama's online stuff - rather well.

This is going to become an issue for the party.The Tories have certainly got the upper hand in the new media stakes.Besides the Conservative Home site,David Cameron is making use of twitter and the likes of Iain Dale and John Redwood are widely read.

Labour needs to get its cat into gear fairly quickly.Whether Mr Draper is the person to do it is another matter