It has not been one of his most successful manoeuvres as Prime Minister – but then, political ventures into social networking so rarely are. Having once announced that the trouble with Twitter is that “too many twits might make a t---”, David Cameron has made a dramatic U-turn and joined the site. “I’m starting Conference with this new Twitter feed about my role as Conservative Leader,” he announced on Saturday. “I promise there won’t be 'too many tweets…’ ”
And that’s a pledge that he has stuck to so far, having sent just six missives to his 95,000 followers since joining. One tweet, a picture of himself packing food parcels for soldiers in Afghanistan, was met with derision from the Twitterati – a sensation he must now be getting used to. “You’re the PM – why don’t you and George [Osborne] just make sure they have all they need without charity handouts?” tweeted one irate user. “Can you do anything about the rain?” responded a rather less serious soul. “Gosh Dave, you are so… caring,” said another Tweet. “And when there are no cameras?”
Yes, Cameron has already had a pretty torrid time on Twitter. “Hello @David_Cameron,” wrote the user @SatanWriter. “What’s your favourite sandwich? Mine is bacon and coleslaw on toasted white bread. I bet yours is the tears of the poor.”
“Welcome to Twitter @David_Cameron,” wrote @jonnot. “It’s cool that you’ve got time to kill, as well as the dreams of our young people, and the working class.” “Hi Dave!” enthused the seemingly bubbly @kerihw. “I’m doing a half-marathon to raise money for disabled people who’ve lost their benefits. Retweet? x”
And these are just the tweets that can be published in a family newspaper.
Political enemies have also seen it as an opportunity to bite. Tom Watson was to the point with his message to the PM: “Please tell me if you provided all the texts and emails sent to Mrs Brooks and Mr Coulson to the Leveson Inquiry?” Meanwhile, Lord Prescott was having heaps of fun with Cameron’s Twitter account, starting the hashtag #askdave. “When you boasted of 'the greenest government ever’ did you mean environmentally friendly or just inexperienced? #askdave”. And then, a day after Jeremy Hunt’s controversial statement about abortion, “How 'chillaxed’ were you when you made @Jeremy_Hunt Health Secretary? Two bottles? #askdave.”
Both Watson and Prescott “get” Twitter, but they are pretty exceptional for politicians. Most do not, choosing to use it as a platform for their own news and rarely engaging in anybody else’s. But that is where they go wrong, because Twitter is a conversation. A great big noisy conversation – and sometimes an exceptionally irritating one.
It doesn’t work if you only tweet promotional pictures of yourself with nurses, or messages about how brilliant your Chancellor’s Conference speech is going to be. It doesn’t work if you only follow Tory MPs (though it is interesting to see which ones Cameron doesn’t follow), and it doesn’t work if you’re not willing to vent your spleen about: The X Factor; Downton Abbey; Question Time; Kay Burley. And do we really want our Prime Minister wasting his time with all that?
Of course, it can have its upsides, exposing the odd politician as the dunderhead they are: to wit, Conservative MP Aidan Burley used his Twitter account to call the Olympics opening ceremony “Leftie multicultural crap”.
But, on the whole, you’d be better off following one of the many spoof accounts in our Prime Minister’s name. Yesterday, Fake David Cameron was raising a smile with tweets such as: “Eric Pickles and I are enjoying our annual sport of chucking pork pies at Leftie protesters from the roof,” and: “If you’re finding it difficult to pay your taxes, under a new scheme #Cash4Organs you’ll be able sell your kidneys to pay your bill.” Which is far more entertaining than tweets about William Hague and the illegal arms trade, don’t you think?
