Be careful what you write

The eyes are always following you

The first one that caught my eye was the story in last Friday’s Western Mail. about a “would be Welsh Conservative MP (who) outraged her Labour opponent by saying it’s wrong that ‘every Tom, Dick and Harry’ should be allowed to go to university.” On first encountering the headline, I assumed that it was in reference to a hustings meeting. But oh no, it was on Twitter that Dawn Parry, the Tory parliamentary candidate for Newport East, offered the following tweet: “It’s Labour’s fault for dropping exam standards so every Tom, Dick & Harry goes to Uni.”

She was said to be responding to an earlier message about educational standards posted by another user of Twitter who uses the pseudonym Tory Toff. Jessica Morden, the Labour MP she is trying to unseat at the general election, hit back through the pages of the Mail. A lively debate ensued, and not all one way if you read the comments on the Western Mail website. But to me the main thing that stood out was that the Welsh Labour media monitoring machine has cranked back into action – and is not just watching the mainstream media.

Conservative candidates aren’t just being watched on Twitter, either. Thanks to satirical journal Private Eye, lawyer Gareth Hughes, who is standing for his party in Wrexham, also got a bit of a spotlight last week when it appeared he had acted for clients seeking to open lap dancing clubs. Not a huge story, either, but big enough to get into the Eye and also on to two blogs with no interest whatsoever in drawing attention to the issue (Shurely some mistake? Ed).

Of course, this tactic will migrate out from just watching Conservatives. There’s always political advantage in pigeon holing or catching out opponents. And it won’t just be candidates in winnable seats that are being scrutinised.

Candidates: be careful with your tweets – and anything you might have said or written in previous years. You’re being watched. But you knew that already.