The Tory party is currently offering a campaigning masterclass on James Wharton’s Private Member’s Bill. As Coffee House revealed last night, any member of the public can sign up to co-sponsor the backbench legislation, and the party has spent a great deal of time squaring backbenchers on the wording of the bill to prevent further amendments clogging it up unnecessarily. And MPs continue to tweet about #letbritaindecide, #labourdoesn’ttrustpeople, #onlytorieshavetheanswer or perhaps #itweetthisbecausemywhipaskednicely.
But how easy is it to replicate this sort of slick campaign with other policies? When it comes to more conventional legislation and policy rows, the Tories are struggling to work out how to get their message across, particularly when it comes to social media. I was nattering to a backbencher recently when his phone buzzed. He muttered darkly under his breath as he read the message, and explained that CCHQ were asking him to tweet support for a certain policy.
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