Digital Campaigning on the Shoulders of Giants
When I first joined the Conservative Party back in 2003 the phrase ‘digital campaigning’ was not even uttered at the grassroots level, whereas today it’s essential for every Conservative activist and pervades our daily lives. I remember running three...
How Coronavirus hit radio
Traditionally, when bad weather hit, we all turned to local radio for the latest traffic information and school closures. During the early stage of the pandemic, as we stayed at home to protect the NHS to save lives, many people switched on the radio to get the latest...
LGBT+ Conservatives – digital campaigning in style!
Like most Tory organisations, LGBT+ Conservatives entered 2020 convinced that it was ‘our year.’ Not only were we still glowing from the 2019 election result, but we had a new Chair in Elena Bunbury and a diverse new General Council. Besides, it was the dawn of the...
Digital is the future of political campaigning – so let’s not become the Wild West
As President Obama told the BBC last week, a sad fact of modern life is ‘truth decay’: on social media, facts increasingly no longer seem to matter. As a result, political divisions have flourished: after all, if you’re seeing a social media feed that is...
Youth engagement and keeping in touch
There is no getting around it, this has been a crap year. All of us have missed loved ones, missed birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, concerts, conferences and of course, missed the chance to say goodbye to those sadly taken from us. And all of us yearn for the...
Digital Campaigning Week – A Hybrid Future
The pandemic forced us to cancel local and mayoral elections, pushing them into next year. With almost a year of social distancing under our belts, it seems right for Digital Tories to explore how campaigning has changed due to the virus and how we are getting...
The Launch Event of Digital Tories
Earlier this week we held an online event to formally launch Digital Tories, joined by 70 participants from across the Party and a punchy panel - Damian Collins MP, Rt Hon Jeremy Wright MP QC, Lord James Bethell and Gareth Elliott from Mobile UK. A big moment for...
The Tories must be the Party of Tech
The Conservative Party has never shied away for technological innovation. It was Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th century Tory Prime Minister and godfather of One Nation Conservatism, who embraced the first industrial revolution and remade conservatism in his time. It...
Time to Double-down on Digital Infrastructure
“In these exceptional times, the most precious commodity is confidence. Government has a golden opportunity with the National Infrastructure Strategy to set out an ambitious but deliverable plan for the nation’s economic infrastructure”. James Heath, CEO of...
Fact-checking: Help play whack-a-mole against online disinformation
Over the course of the pandemic, the value of researched, independent fact-checking has become more precious than ever. Social media platforms have enabled an ‘infodemic’ of false claims regarding potential cures to COVID-19, conspiracy theories laced with...