MP Bloggers Censored by Commons Authorities
November 19th, 2008 admin Posted in euro conservative |
The House of Commons authorities are stamping down on MPs who say anything remotely controversial on their blogs. The BBC reports that Labour MPs Paul Flynn and Derek Wyatt have been taken to task, not because their blogs are overtly partisan (although they would be the first to admit that they are) but becasue in Flynn's case he had criticised or poked fun at other MPs (including Labour ones) and in Wyatt's because he had uploaded some "unsuitable" videos.The Commons authorities told Flynn he couldn't use the House of Commons communications allowance to fund his blog if he was going to make fun of MPs and demanded he delete the offending entries. Flynn told them he had no intention of being censored and is now going to pay the £250 running costs out of his own pocket.
In my humble opinion I think it is impossible for an MP to write a worthwhile blog if they fund it out of their allowances. If you are not allowed to indulge in party politics, your blog would be so vanilla as to be not worth reading.
So to any MP thinking of setting up a blog, the message is this. Blogs cost nothing to set up or run and have no server costs if you use the Wordpress or Blogger blogging platforms. There are plenty of people out there who will charge you hundreds, if not thousands, for the pleasure of setting up a blog. But the simple truth is, you don't need them. If you are in any doubt, just get in touch.
