Brandjack News

by Quentin Langley<P>
Ed Miliband begins his period as Leader of the Opposition in an unusual position.  He is the first Labour Leader in generations to begin his leadership as a blank canvas.  Normally, Labour elects the front runner, and usually the long term leader in waiting.  The last time Labour elected someone other than the early favourite was in 1980, and the eventual winner was the serving Deputy Leader.<P>Of course, the Conservatives usually elect an outsider.  Pretty much every person ever elected Leader of the Conservative Party is someone who would not even have been a candidate twelve months earlier.  But we are now in the era of social media, and a blank canvas is a tempting target for blogs and Twitter.  It is generally acknowledged that in UK politics it is the right-wing blogosphere that has set the standard.  So new leaders of the Conservative Party did not have to cope with a generally hostile blogosphere, and the last Conservative leadership election took place before days of Twitter and Facebook.

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