Over the last 18 months or so, the Conservatives have substantially increase the quality of their online activities, with many of their initiatives straight out of the Obama campaign playbook. But one important new media technique which the Conservatives have so far failed to integrate into their overall communications/campaign strategy, is the inclusion of independent bloggers into their daily briefings. Yes ConservativeHome get a seat at pretty much every political speech or event, but they need to go much further.

In recognition of the growing importance new media is playing in shaping politics, Labour have started inviting a number of bloggers along to their daily lobby and press briefings.

Writing on Labour List, Mark Hanson gives his impressions of attending one such briefing with Jack Straw:

“There have been ripples of curiosity in the blogosphere about the decision by Labour’s press team to include bloggers in the daily briefings being given to journalists in advance of the Euro elections.

Jack Straw did one on crime and constitutional affairs on Wednesday with Ed Balls on Children, Schools and Families the following day.

I went along to the Straw session, held at 39 Victoria Street and this is how it went:

It was billed at 10:45 for 11am start but Straw was late, keeping everyone waiting in the holding room for about twenty minutes!

He then did a 5 minute summary of the choice facing the electorate on law and order. We’d all been handed an A4 document beforehand with Labour’s achievements on crime down one side and the Tories shortcomings on the other and his talk was a summary of that.

Unlike on the West Wing or at the PM’s monthly press conference, it isn’t a free-for-all in terms of asking questions. Basically Labour’s press team have a list of attendees and each one is called out and offered the chance to ask one question plus one follow up. I couldn’t work out what order people journalists were asked.

There were about 20 press from the lobby/home affairs beat, so that meant 40 questions about law and order…..er no, about 6 questions about crime and the rest about MPs expenses.

Don’t say it; they’re one and the same.”

While we all agree that lobby briefing is not perfect; it’s clear that, in respect of allowing bloggers to attend, the Labour party have out manoeuvred their Conservative counterparts. It’s great that ConHome are able to attend events, but one big blog is not enough. There is a vide range of blogs in the political blogosphere, and the speed at which they can get their stories out should be embraced by the parties media machine.

It will be interesting to see how the Tories respond to Labour’s embrace of the blogosphere. While some bloggers, most notably Guido, have spoken out about bloggers joining the Lobby, it’s clear that as more and more people get their news from independent websites the need for all parties to engage with bloggers will only increase. As Tory Bear puts it in his post: In other words, any chance of a lobby pass?

Hat tip: Tory bear