CCHQ
Conservative poster van attacked
Following the launch of the Conservatives new “Gordon’s done sweet BA” poster campaign, which is aimed at highlighting Labour’s links with the Unite union, a poster van was dispatched by CCHQ to Heathrow.
Alas union thugs didn’t like the message and set about attacking the poster and ripping it to shreds.
A Channel 4 News camera caught the aftermath:
Tories Target Whelan in New Facebook Campaign
The Conservatives have today launched a new online campaign using Facebook Connect.
The campaign, called Cash Gordon, is designed to raise awareness of the control Charlie Whelan’s Unite has on Gordon Brown’s Labour Party beyond the Westminster village.
The most innovative aspect of the initiative is its integration of “competitive campaigning.” Users will accrue “action points” for reading briefings on the issue, getting their friends involved, and for directly tweeting Charlie Whelan.
Commenting on the launch, Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles said:
“By making it easy for people to spread the word out to their non-political friends, this groundbreaking campaign is designed to bring a new wave of pressure on to Gordon Brown’s complete reliance on cash from Charlie Whelan and Unite.
“Facebook often gets forgotten about in Westminster. But with twelve million of us using it every day to connect to our friends and interests, we still see it as a key online battleground for peer-to-peer campaigning.
Once again the Conservatives push online show just how behind Labour is when it comes to leveraging online communities as part of wider campaigns.
Pickles added: “I’m proud that the Conservatives have consistently been leading the way in its use of the internet. In the last few weeks independent research has shown us way ahead in our use of email, and we’ve become the first party to launch apps on both the iPhone and the Blackberry.”
Cameron to invoke Thatcher to attack striking unions
In a speech later on today David Cameron will invoke the spirit of Margaret Thatcher’s government to continue his attack on striking unions, and increase the pressure on Gordon Brown.
Following the collapse of last ditch talks between Unite and BA, along with the announcement that the RMT will hold the first national railway strike in 16 years, the Conservative leader will accuse Brown of being “feeble” and too willing to give into vested interests.
Speaking in London he will say:
“Margaret Thatcher’s government was defined by taking the side of the people against the powerful, the vested interest – those whose survival depended on keeping things as they were. Take her union reforms.
A Twitter First?
It would appear that tonight we’ve seen a Twitter first, a Conservative party press officer tweeting from backstage as BBC Question Time is recorded.
This may not sound like much, but the BBC tries very hard to keep secret what goes on during the recording of Question Time. But with twittering press officers such as Paul Stephenson, the parties health press officer, sitting in the wings this will become increasingly difficult.
Former Foreign Editor at Sky News protects tweets after vile attack on Cameron
Yesterday I reported that freelance journalist and former Foreign Editor at Sky News Leah Borromeo, aka monstris, used Twitter to unleash a vile slur on David Cameron and CCHQ staffers:
Now it would appear that she doesn’t quite like all the attention this completely unacceptable attack has given her and has protected her Twitter updates:
Conservative High Command brings in YouGov for internal polling
After years of relying on Populus for their private polling, CCHQ has now turned to the online pollsters YouGov to supply regular national polling direct to the election coordination team.
According to the Wall Street Journal’s Iain Martin, YouGov and Conservative high command have been locked in secret negotiations for some time. It is believed the firm will concentrate their polling efforts around “talking points”, or what the public is discussing at any given moment in the campaign.
CCHQ responds to Electoral Commission investigation
Following their 18 month investigation of donations made to the Conservatives by Bearwood Corporate Services, an investigation that has cleared the company owned by Lord Ashcroft of any wrongdoing, a spokesman for the party said:
“Following an 18 month investigation, the Electoral Commission has definitively concluded that donations made by Bearwood, the company in which Lord Ashcroft has an interest, were legal, permissible and correctly reported.
“It has now been put beyond doubt that donations from Bearwood were entirely legitimate.
Pickles: The unions’ stranglehold on Labour is tightening
Earlier today I reported on the new figures form the Electoral Commission which showed just how bad Labour’s finances are, and how in hock they are to the Trade Unions.
Now Conservative Party Chairman, Eric Pickles, has put our the following statement that sums up the situation brilliantly:
“It’s frightening that day by day the unions’ stranglehold on the Labour party is tightening.
“As millions face air travel misery, we now discover that the union behind it is bankrolling the Labour Party, and its Political Director is back doing Gordon Brown’s dirty work.
