Tory blogging is close to death, I can announce. It’s been in intensive care for some time thanks to the meanderings of Iain Dale and the endless pronouncements of ConservativeHome but now the Cornerstone has launched a blog and, mind crushingly dull as it is, it can only be a matter of time before these sites start eating each other.
Conservative blogs are already almost exclusively the preserve of right wing men of a certain age. www.Cornerstonegroup.wordpress.com is just overkill.
To explain for those who actually have a life, Cornerstone is a group of Christian right wing MPs who follow Iain Duncan Smith – yes, that’s right, some people still think this is a good idea.
They believe in – altogether now – “traditional family values”. I had lunch recently with a member and he spent the entire meal trying to convince me that my life was meaningless and immoral because I am not married. A few years back I had a similarly charming lunch with another leading “Tombstone” member who told me that women had no place in the armed forces. You get the picture.
So, it comes as no surprise to me when a website allied to Mr Duncan Smith – ConservativeHome – “authorises” (lol, I think the bloggers would say) a statement by Alan Duncan (lol some more) trashing me for an article I wrote in which I speculated on how David Cameron might reshape his shadow cabinet.
The furore caused by my well sourced and entirely reasonable predictions can only be explained in the context of the misogyny that reigns supreme in these circles. When they say my article was spurious and shoddy what they mean is, how dare this woman threaten our boys’ jobs.
As the comments attacking me personally accumulated, I was contacted by a lawyer who said I should sue. My instinct was against this. But then it occurred to me that she had a point. Where else could you call a professional every name under the sun and expect them not to uphold their reputation in court? Worse still, Mr Dale cack-handedly named someone as my source who emphatically was not my source.
Tory blogging is ripe for a libel challenge. And there will come one. I know these bastions of male political debate love the fact that I’m a woman in their world so let me put it in language they might understand:
The next time you guys go into a tizzy in your little chatrooms you ought to ask yourself one question. Do you feel lucky? Well, do you?
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