By Tim Crump

It was bound to happen sooner or later: At some point in the forthcoming general election campaign, a missive of unprecedented proportions was going to be thrown somewhere on the internet of a type that we haven’t seen before – and what could be a more appropriate constituency for this activity than Bristol East?

Home to the majority of Bristol’s Muslim and ethnic minority communities, Bristol East is currently held by Labour MP Kerry McCarthy, New Labour’s first New Media Campaign Spokesperson – otherwise known (although she dislikes the nickname) as their Twitter Tsar. Ms McCarthy has been tasked with making sure that social networking sites are used to her party’s advantage, and is particularly vociferous on Twitter.

Needless to say such activity was always going to attract responses from Kerry’s opponents, and, not unexpectedly, she eventually began blocking entries from selected users. Fairly predictable stuff so far, no different to the kind of procedures MPs use on their blogs all the time.

However, after being blocked by Kerry following a clash with her on Twitter, Tory blogger Iain Dale and some of his party activist chums took things a step further, setting up a website entitled #Kerryout, and as you’ll see it’s pretty vicious. The stated aim of the site is to persuade visitors to help the Tory candidate for Bristol East, Ms Adeela Shafi – primarily by making campaign donations, although the site offers to enable supporters to become telephone canvassers on her behalf should they wish.

Needless to say Ms Shafi is not officially associated with the campaign, which makes fairly routine political criticisms of Kerry, as well as accusing her of misusing Twitter for childish political sniping in favour of more important constituency matters.

I have to admit I’d rather my MP was working hard to sort out issues in my neighbourhood rather than spending time on social networking sites, but if that’s Kerry’s role then so be it. I’m prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she does a decent enough job.

She’s certainly well thought of by Labour party bosses, being made Junior Whip last year – and clearly represents a big prize for the Tories. But the bigger prizes are the hardest-won, and with Kerry polling an eight thousand-plus majority in 2005, Ms Shafi has her work cut out. As a married, part-time college lecturer residing in Westbury-on-Trym she also lacks some street credibility, however she does tick the more important boxes, being Asian, a Muslim, and Bristol born and bred.

If Shafi wins, however, we won’t just be witnessing the voters of East Bristol vehemently rejecting three terms of New Labour politics in favour of a brave new Tory MP: victory would no doubt be at least in part attributed to #Kerryout, meaning that certain Tories will think they have finally worked out how to play dirty, New Labour-style.

This won’t fit comfortably with David Cameron’s pin-striped, Bullingdon-boy image – which he really ought to hold onto. The shady tactics used by New Labour – particularly over Iraq – make the fabled Tory sleaze of the 1990s look like a bit of pilfering from the party HQ stationary cupboards. Cameron’s communications director, ex-tabloid editor Andy Coulson, therefore has the opportunity to take advantage by claiming the moral high ground rather than allowing party activists to stoop as low as possible with grubby internet campaigns. He should also bear in mind the very real possibility of #Kerryout backfiring.

Many have commented, quite correctly, that the site may simply garner sympathy for McCarthy, which would be a victory for common decency, though not necessarily for democracy. Hardly ideal. More worryingly, though, #Kerryout may well win Ms Shafi Bristol East for all the wrong reasons, damaging both of the main parties and paving the the way for political convergence.

Just as Blair’s government rapidly acquired the ‘Blue Labour’ moniker, Tory supporters creating an unofficial party communications machine in a downmarket image of Campbell and Mandelson may simply take us one step closer to unprecedented levels of voter apathy. As a hypothetical pro-Labour news editor I’d go for something like ‘The DefamaTory Party’, and capitalise endlessly on underhand tactics that can’t be provably disassociated with the party leadership.

The instigators of #Kerryout will, of course, claim that they are simply leading the race on radical campaigning initiatives and that their decision to operate the site is purely their business. Wrong. Once the BNP latch onto all of this it becomes everybody’s business.

‘Look at them’, one can imagine Nick Griffin sneering. ‘This is what happens in a multicultural constituency: A Tory party resorting to lowest common denominator tactics, desperate to cash in and play the race card – and a Twittering New Labour apparatchik making it simple for them. It’s pathetic.’

Potential BNP voters in Bristol East could be easy prey as it is: the use of Twitter and similar sites doesn’t fit easily into a culture of trainers, lager and pimped-up cars. There’s no way they’ll choose the moderate Lib Dems or an Asian Muslim, meaning any publicised squabbling stemming from #Kerryout could be enough for Griffin and his colleagues to step in for some easy publicity.

So come on chaps, take #Kerryout down, please. It’s important for voters to have two main parties to choose from that are actually different from one another. Skullduggery is obviously synonymous with politics, but it would be preferable if the New Labour approach to media management is as ruthless as it ever gets in this country.

Alternatively, perhaps I can appeal to the type of instincts more traditionally associated with gentlemen on the centre-right: As you’ve no doubt noticed, Adeela Shafi is a lady – and it’s highly probable that you’re embarrassing the hell out of her. Give her a chance to win properly and one day she’ll thank you for it.

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