Leicester Mercury political correspondent
Archive for February, 2010
Political press releases: The biggest pitfall
Feb 28th
We’re weeks away from a general election and releases are being fired across to the Mercury’s politics desk from across the county. Very, very few of them will ever see the light of day.
Why? It’s not because of bias, or laziness, or lack of space – it’s simply because they’re no use. Those crafted mailouts candidates proudly send out simply don’t cut the mustard in newsland.
There are a list of schoolboy errors as long as my arm. But my biggest gripe is this: Why are you sending out a press release in the first place?
Sounds like a stupid question, but why are you even sending out a press release? What’s wrong with picking up the phone to a reporter and giving them the essence of your story, and letting them weigh-up whether it’s newsworthy before wasting your time tapping out a quote and background information.
Perhaps you think a press release gives whatever you’re trying to say more gravitas. Journalists sit up and take notice if a message is headed with ++PRESS RELEASE++ right? Wrong.
By sending out press releases you’re in crowded company. Government departments send out press releases, sure, but so do the firms behind I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Vileda floor mops, and Compare the Meerkat. A press release doesn’t bestow an otherworldly quality on what you have to say. It doesn’t make it any more likely to get into print.
If you really want to be effective, pick up the phone. It means you can have a chat with the reporter about how they plan to cover the election, and what stories and issues they’re looking into and how you can help.
And, if you’re really lucky, they might be able to tell you how to turn your press release – too often just an opinion on headed notepaper – into an actual news story.
Just saying…
The perils of caffeine
Feb 28th
With the leadership of Leicester City Council up for grabs, I’ve been doing my best to catch up with the runners and riders and I’ve had coffee with three of the contenders so far.
One meet-up went a bit pear-shaped. A day earlier we’d struck upon a time to meet up. I was bang on time, as ever, and ordered a latte with an extra shot of espresso and waited. And waited. And waited. I had an Americano to pass the time. Then a double espresso.
I left a stern voicemail on their phone: “You’re half an hour late. If you’re not here in five minutes I’m off.”
As I got up to leave the politico called me back. “I missed your call, what’s up? Do you want to meet up early or something. I’m due in half an hour.” I checked my notebook. I wasn’t bang on time, I was a whole hour early.
But, by the time they arrived it was no use. I was almost incapable due to the caffeine overload. I was shuffling about in my chair, gnawing on a giant cookie and scratching at the walls like an addict without his fix. My shorthand notes looked like earthquake tremor lines, my brow was damp, and I had a pounding headache.
Lesson learned for the future. Stick to decaff.
Out of sorts
Feb 25th
Ross Grant made a decent fist of his budget amendment presentation this week – he even did a bit of a web-launch – but I was more concerned with his performance after he’d spoken at full council on Wednesday.
The usual cut-and-thrust of full council means partisan attacks are bandied back and forth, but digs at Ross (example – “there are lots of interesting and useful things on the internet, then there’s Ross Grant’s blog”) didn’t seem to stir the Conservative leader this time round. He barely raised his eyebrow at the blog attack.
Had Ross Grant discovered Buddhism? Perhaps he’d signed up as a Quaker.
“I’ve gone about three days without sleep,” he admitted after the meeting, with a bleary-eyed expression presumably last seen in the excesses of his student days. All down to his work, it seems, which can involve a lot of travel and uncomfortable hotels.
All good experience for when he become a father later this year…
Leadership observations
Feb 25th
For a leadership contender, Manish Sood is awfully quiet. He didn’t say a word at full council on Wednesday. Another contender, Mary Draycott, didn’t say anything on the budget and instead got into a fair old flap with the opposition over the Walkers Stadium Market. I don’t know who came off worse, to be honest.
Veejay Patel, as expected, spoke quite a lot. He’s the finance lead, after all, so he had to deliver the budget. Plenty of little jibes at the opposition, gearing up for the possibility of becoming leader. Give the troops what they want.
But did anyone step forward to rally the troops? Perhaps with a little bit of opposition-bashing to throw some meat to party faithful? Yes indeed. Step forward, Stephen Corrall. “It’s getting like a leadership beauty contest, this,” announced Lib Dem leader Pete Coley with a smile after Stephen had a right old pop at the Tory and Lib Dem benches.
But a partisan tubthumper until the last, Ross Willmott delivered some of the most withering put-downs of the night.
He scolded Hussein Suleman for an “empty-headed rant”, said he never expected to see the day the Conservative group put forward a council tax rise which was higher than Labour, and even corrected a claim that he had “four minutes left” in his post as the meeting drew to a close.
Wagging a finger he said: “I’m council Labour leader until the 15th, actually.” He’s a stickler for the details, that Ross.
11am UPDATE: The comment by Ross in the comments section is, of course, correct. The positions of leader of the Labour group and leader of the council are two separate things. Happy to clarify that he will be leader of the group until March 15, but leader of the council until March 25. Complicated this, isn’t it readers?
In County Hall, the walls have ears…
Feb 25th
When two senior politicians started arguing in the upper echelons of County Hall this week, they were quick to spot one of my colleagues lurking further down the corridor.
Like any savvy politicos they moved away from the prying eyes of the Press during their heated debate, and scuttled around a corner to continue their shouting match.
But in County Hall the walls really do have ears. The spot they chose to give each other some choice words was on the other side of a closed office door of a council chief. In that office? Me, of course. Pen and pad in hand, noting it all down.
City council sub-plots
Feb 23rd
Typical. You wait days for a half-decent council meeting then two come along at once.
Both the City and County councils hold their budget-setting council meetings today. I’ll be up at County Hall for 2pm, then zooming back to the town hall for the City’s meet-up at 5pm.
Both budgets are likely to be approved as a formality so it’s worth keeping an eye on some sub-plots instead.
It’s Ross Willmott’s last full-council meeting as leader and it’ll be his likely replacement, finance lead Veejay Patel, who’ll deliver the budget.
Will opposition criticism be directed at the outgoing leader, or will the focus turn to the man many think will replace him?
Two rivals have already emerged as leadership contenders – Mary Draycott and Manish Sood. If they speak to the proposals, their comments will be scrutinised for hints on how they plan to sell their candidacy to fellow Labour members. Could they even try to put some clear blue water between themselves and the front runner by giving some gentle “constructive criticism” on his budget proposals? Unlikely but worth keeping an eye on.
Elsewhere Patrick Kitterick, seen as part of Team Willmott, has been remarkably coy over his leadership ambitions. He was “considering his options” last time the Mercury spoke to him. If he speaks to the proposals, will it include full-throated praise of Willmott’s leadership of the council, or will he attempt to distance himself as he looks to his political future?
With the meeting being effectively a rubber-stamping exercise, the most interesting tidbits will be discovered in the corridors of power before and after the meeting. As ever, if I hear anything, I’ll let you know.
Marginally interesting
Feb 22nd
I grew up in the north east, where the Labour party has a tight grip on most of the region’s constituencies. General elections are more of a formality up there. “Stick a red rosette on anyone and they’ll get elected,” they’d say.
Things are a little bit more exciting here in Leicestershire in the run up to the General Election. Sure, there are safe Labour and Tory seats, but there are also two marginals to watch. They’re both held by Labour, and they’re Tory targets.
But with the Conservatives enjoying a stable 10-point lead over Labour for the past year or so, you could have been forgiven for thinking that a win for Andrew Bridgen in North West Leicestershire and Nicky Morgan in Loughborough was in the bag. And foregone conclusions don’t make for an interesting election campaign.
Tonight’s ICM poll changes that. It is the worst polling result for two years for the Conservatives and their lead has been cut to seven points. It’s the lowest margin they need for a majority in the House of Commons.
For Conservatives it’s bad news. For Labour it’s good news.
But for political journalists everywhere it’s a mouthwatering development – suddenly it’s game on for marginals everywhere.
Getting ahead in Gateshead
Feb 20th
Hopi Sen, one of the few must-read political bloggers, is on the Labour candidacy shortlist for the new safe Gateshead seat.
But the former head of campaigns for the Labour Party will need to use all of his expertise to win the nomination. My snout in the north tells me that deputy council leader Ian Mearns already has it “in the bag”. By happy coincidence, Mearns is a chum of outgoing MP David Clelland.
The decision will be made in a fortnight.
General Election: Red alert
Feb 19th
It isn’t just Parliamentary candidates who have General Election battle plans. I’ve had one in my inbox for the past couple of weeks. It was the result of a creative get-together of some fellow Mercury staffers where we threw around ideas on how to cover this year’s big vote.
It’s a gigantic to-do list which hasn’t really been tackled head on yet. After all, the election won’t be called until early April – right?
Perhaps not. The rumour mill is cranked up a notch tonight, suggesting Gordon Brown will call a General Election this weekend. Tomorrow, on his birthday, he’s down the road in Coventry to reveal the party’s election slogan and campaign themes – but will he also call an election?
Will Heaven at the Telegraph sums up the reasons behind the speculation:
Douglas Alexander, Labour’s General Election Coordinator, has tweeted the following message: “Thanks 4 all ur warm welcomes – just got back to office and impressed with the response. Big day for Labour 2moro, will keep u updated.”
Another point of intrigue: Peter Mandelson and Ben Bradshaw have, according to Henry Macrory, pulled out of this evening’s BAFTA awards at the last minute.
Will Gordon Brown call a General Election tomorrow? Might it be an April date?
I’d planned to go to Birmingham tomorrow for a day strolling around the Bullring. Those plans are now on ice. I now fully expect to be sat up in Mercury Towers instead, finally putting our battle plan into action.
Update: Well that was a load of hot air. No election called, so I went to Birmingham instead.
Anatomy of a leadership race
Feb 18th
I’m relishing covering the twists and turns of the race to become Labour leader of Leicester City Council. Leadership elections are catnip to political correspondents. I’ve penned a couple of stories in the Mercury on it so far, and there are more to come.
In every political leadership race there are usually two or three front runners, but that doesn’t stop others – with little or no chance of winning – throwing their hat into the ring.
There are four main types of outsider candidates that I reckon you’ll find in every race. It’s these candidates in a leadership race that can tell you so much more about the state of a party than who gets elected as leader. Keep an eye out for their equivalents in the city over the coming weeks.
1 – The Horse Trader
They’ve got no chance of winning but every chance of splitting the vote or disrupting a coronation. They’ll aim for the top so they can cut a deal for a senior position in return for rowing back from their stated leadership ambitions.
2 – The Vanity Candidate
Usually either a has-been or a could-be-one-day. This person will feel that the leadership of the party has wrongly eluded them. They’ll put themselves in the frame with every belief they’ll win it, only to find little or no support among their party’s ranks.
3 – The Principled Politico
Knows they won’t win, but stands on a point of principle anyway. Often covering their move with claims that they want to hold a ‘debate’ about the party’s direction or key policies, they’re largely ignored while the real race continues.
4 – The Vengeance Candidate
Not in it to win it, but not in it to start a debate either. In fact, they’re not in it for any other reason other than to voice their opposition to one of the front runners. Good sense and reason is ignored in favour of the opportunity to have a very public dig at the leader-elect.
Do let me know in the comments if I’ve missed any out.
Et tu, Brute?
Feb 17th
Outgoing City council leader Ross Willmott will give up the hotseat on March 15. The runners and riders are already making their moves for his chair. The significance of his departure date wasn’t really noticed at the time, but his reign ends on the Ides of March, the day Julius Caesar was bumped-off by fellow politicians – including his close friend Brutus.
“Chaos and confusion” on the campaign trail
Feb 17th
If newspapers reported every bit of in-fighting within political parties, there wouldn’t be room for any other news. It’s part of politics.
So a rumpus up in North West Leicestershire among the local Lib Dem branch wouldn’t have been newsworthy – if the national party hadn’t stepped in to shut it down.
I started chasing the story after hearing hazy reports that Coun Michael Wyatt had his membership suspended by his local party. Not quite true, it turned out. The executive had tried to but may have broken the rules. The national party then came in to shut them down. His membership remains untouched.
A morning of phonecalls turned up several conflicting accounts and the local branch appeared to be in confusion and a bit of chaos. I told the Lib Dem national office that this would be the only line I could run with unless we could get clarification of the situation fast.
Fair play to their press office, they fired out a statement saying the branch had been suspended, and I was right.
But then I hit a bizarre brick wall. Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) Professor Paul Reynolds, the man who’ll battle at the next election on behalf of the party and the branch, said he knew nothing about it.
He genuinely didn’t realise the extent of the situation. Even when presented with the party’s statement he insisted there must have been some kind of misunderstanding.
Right up until 5pm on Tuesday he maintained that it was a misunderstanding. He promised to contact Lib Dem HQ – top brass, no less – to clear up the situation.
I told him I’d leave my mobile phone on all night. The story could always be pulled if we got confirmation that it was simply not true, but the call never came.
Prof Reynolds clearly believed his account of the situation which makes the situation even more bizarre: The PPC in a high-profile election battleground was unaware that his local branch had been shut down by the national office.
Perhaps the original line of “chaos and confusion” wasn’t so far off the mark…
