H Harmam – MP for Blogosphere North

MP’s forays into the world of the worldwide interweb have often been a bit hit and miss. I can be a little bi-polar about them to be honest. In October I poured scourn on David Camerons dish-washing podcast, at the same time having Boris Johnson’s Blog on my blogroll over there on the right.

I’ve been reading Harriet Harmans’ blog this evening and it’s a mixed bag. Beyond the bland and functional exterior of her site (the whole thing reminds me of a district council’s website) there’s a blog, and it’s a fairly free-thinking one at that. Short posts lacking in that usual guarded and complex structure that most MP’s use to make sure there’s an escape clause from anyone trying to hold them to account.

Why do MP’s do it? They can’t really speak their minds. They’re politicians. We know they can never offend anyone or speak out against party line. We’re not going to see any great insight into her character – is she going to write “January 25th: Tony was being a right little brat in the meeting today”? I’m sure some are doing it to reach out to their constituents. Maybe this is good, maybe this is bad. Harriet seems to have already collected a few devoted activists in her comment boxes with her post applauding Hilary Clinton’s first steps towards returning to the White House. I just hope this doesn’t put other MP’s off of writing in this style.