Speaking of LPUK...

This blog is closed and has moved to http://Charlottegore.com. See you there!

The really really interesting thing about LPUK is that it is the first political party in the UK (that I know about) that seems to have emerged from blogging. It would be very easy to write them off as an offshoot of the Cult of Guido, but then, even if it were true this, in itself, is a very curious and interesting phenomenon, isn't it?

Consider the volumes of readers that Guido has, and imagine if every single one of them joined the same political party. 

Seriously. Stop for a second and imagine what you could do with 80-100 thousand people, including a fair number of journalists, writers and bloggers. Guido claims to have nearly a million visitors over the year. That's power. That's real influence. 

So did you imagine it? Don't cheat. I will be checking at the end. 

Right, so, technically, if everyone that read Guido, or let's say Devil's Kitchen as probably the biggest LPUK blog, joined a single party, you'd be talking about a party that might actually be bigger than the Liberal Democrats. That is a terrifying and yet exciting thought. 

See, I've argued many times that to unseat one of the top two parties in our system requires a significant sociological phenomenon. In Labour's case it required universal voting rights and the self-destruction of the Liberal Party in coalitions. It's a once in a lifetime event that may be immune to any sort of attempt to engineer it. 

But what if Guido, tapping into a certain anti-politician zeitgeist has tapped into the seed of something powerful? Could New Media and User Generated Content actually morph into a viable political mass political movement? I do wonder. On paper it's possible. There's enough people reading political blogs to make just about anything happen. And, with people distrustful and suspicious of the Three Main Parties and politicians in general doesn't it sort of imply that any great surge will come from something outside the existing system? Something that seems to come from 'The People' themselves? 

Now, I'll be realistic and honest. The LPUK proposal is not quite there yet. It's not something that people are going to join casually, and I think far too many of the people who read these blogs are committed to another party - but the potential is there. The potential is to create a sense of shared identity and allow those people to communicate and organise. That's all that's needed to create a political movement. 

The race is on, as far as I'm concerned. The Liberal Democrats are secure in their 3rd place for now but we cannot guarantee it will remain that way forever. If people decide that we're never, ever going to get into power then they're going to get bored of us unless we can prove we can deliver something useful in the meantime.

For the LPUK, their recent troubles with bloggers like Old Holborn quitting the party and closing his blog due to death threats *breathe* as a result of other members leaking his name after expressing strong anti-Israel opinions *breathe* are a disaster. For a party who exists primarily in the blogosphere, this sort of conflict is tremendously embarrassing*. If the movement is real it will survive this but Mr Holborn is not exactly going quietly. 

It could be that no viable political movement comes out of the blogosphere. It could be that existing movements are the only ones that will benefit. But the seed of something interesting is there and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

*Update: And, you know, thinking about, a blogger having to close and delete the blog because of death threats after expressing opinions is absolutely friggin' terrifying and upsetting and awful in it's own right. Not just for Mr Holborn, but for anyone that believes that you should be able to express opinions without psychopaths threatening horrible painful death to you and your family to stop you. This world is a mess. 

This blog is closed and has moved to http://Charlottegore.com. See you there!