Saturday, May 10, 2008

Shadow Cabinet Media Tarts List: April

Each month Julian Nicholson and I compile a list of the best media performers in the Shadow Cabinet using mentions on Lexis Nexis as the index.


April
1 - David Cameron 1542
2 1 George Osborne 371
3 2 David Davis 208
4 - William Hague 157
5 -3 Owen Paterson 101
6 - Alan Duncan 95
7 8 Peter Ainsworth 87
8 - Michael Gove 77
9 3 Liam Fox 71
10 - Nick Herbert 68
11 2 Eric Pickles 63
12 2 Theresa Villiers 59
13 -6 Philip Hammond 55
14 -5 Chris Grayling 53
15 -4 Andrew Lansley 46
16 4 Grant Shapps 32
17 1 Caroline Spelman 30
18 -2 Theresa May 27
19 - David Willetts 26
20 3 Francis Maude 22
21 -4 Jeremy Hunt 13
22 -2 David Mundell 11
23= -1 Cheryl Gillan 9
23= 1 Andrew Mitchell 9
23= 5 Sayeeda Warsi 9
26 - Patrick McLoughlin 7
27 2 Dame Pauline Neville-Jones 6
28= -3 Lord Strathclyde 2
28= -2 Oliver Letwin 2
28= - David Lidington 2
31 - Baroness Anelay of St Johns 0

Liberal Democrats
- Nick Clegg 398

8 comments:

TheMadCobbler said...

I think DC did well, but unfortunately gaffed it when he refused to give even a "diplomatic" responce to the teacher that cornered him in Crewe and Nantwich during his walkabout this week.

With the left increasingly clutching at straws to find something to dent and even try to derail the now resurgent Tory Party Juggernaught, it's a soundbite we could have done without.

He didn't really have to give a definitive yes or no answer, maybe even something like

"One of the first thing's I'll ask George Osborne to do is look into a way of restoring it without potentially costing the frontline services the state provides, it may not mean we can do it on the day we arrive in office, but hopefully we'll be able to restore it. But I can't promise that we definately will because we don't know the exact state of public finances."

Or something similar, it's a message of that hope and change to the former Labour Loyal and could start putting him into a genuine and unassailable lead.

Present poll lead notwithstanding some people have correctly assumed that a number of voters are just using their sense of English/British "Fair play" to vote for the Tories, and are voting against Labour, not for the Tories.

I think that Eric Pickles, the "Titan Tory" is right about releasing the tax plans closer to the general election, but surely a bare hint, a little show of leg here or there would ensure that people do start voting True Blue and finally and definitively get the public and media on side is the best course of action now?

I mean, it doesn't have to be completely committed, the conservative councils will prove monetarily competent, as they are now proving here in my constituency, but we do need a bit more than hints and non comittal soundbites that will be grabbed by the desperate left in the blogosphere and media.

Anonymous said...

Iain, perhaps you could add Boris now that he's Mayor, even though he's not a Shadow Cabinet Member.

Anonymous said...

The long standing theory on politicalbetting.com is that the Conservative poll lead is linked directly to the level of media attention that Cameron gets, even when it is bad, if Cam is in the news its good for the Tories. Of coruse, it is also becoming clearer that the PM has the opposite impact on polls.

Tapestry said...

Iain, when Owen Paterson was appointed you made a few disparaging remarks about his inability to communicate.

Do you still hold those views after he is hitting such high billing two months in a row?

You said - even his best friend would agree that he wasn't up to the level - or some such comment.

Iain Dale said...

Tapestry, you overdo it. What I said was this.

"I suppose this appointment comes under the category 'sop to the Cornerstone Group'. Owen is a tenacious hard worker - his work on fisheries was outstanding - but I think even his best friend would have been surprised at this promotion."

I stick by that!

Tapestry said...

It sounds as if a few more sops to the Cornerstone Group should be in order, in that case.

Maybe hard work is coming back into fashion, as Cool Labour dissolves.

John Hayes?

Anonymous said...

I have been for some time to leave a comment on Blaneys blarney. I do not want to sign on to some web site and leave an E mail address. I want to remain anon. I note that since yesterday 1 (one) comment has been recorded. Bit of a bollox really.


Any hints anyone?

Anonymous said...

Theresa Villiers – just appalling, awful, useless.