Blog: Politics making pig's ear of Twitter

Blog: Politics making pig's ear of Twitter

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Tuesday, 16, Feb 2010 11:21

Labour whip David Wright exposes his and politicians' confusion over what Twitter is and how it can be used to genuinely engage.

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By Matthew Champion.

Last night, playing along with a #ivenevervotedtory Twitter game in response to David Cameron's new "I've never voted Tory but..." posters, Labour MP and whip David Wright went a bit too far in describing the party as a "scum-sucking pig".

The full message, since deleted but retweeted by other users, said: "You can put lipstick on a scum-sucking pig but it is still a scum-sucking pig."

The Telford MP has since apologised for the remark but also insisted his account was hacked into or tampered with in an unspecified way.

"What a commotion today," he said in another 140-character long post last night. "Looks like my tweets have been tinkered with. I will keep you posted."

Earlier tweets from the MP are more confusing, including a bland statement that it was "important to engage" with voters via Twitter and a seemingly-censored version of the "scum-sucking pig" message: "#ivenevervotedtory because you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. With apologies."

The Tories' unlikely Twitter guru Eric Pickles, or whoever maintains his account, has accused Wright of "gutter language" and asking him to specify how his account was hacked - as has been pointed out, it is not possible to modify a tweet after it has been published, only delete it altogether.

"This is exactly the sort of politics that voters are so sick of," Pickles said.

"All one of Gordon Brown's ministers can provide in response is gutter language.

"This sort of language falls way short of what you would expect of a minister of the crown."

Is Twitter dumbing down politics? The Wright affair shows politicians' use of it as its worse; simultaneously betraying a lack of understanding of how it works and also a desire to rely on it for Punch and Judy point-scoring.

You can put lipstick on a misguided attempt to engage by calling the Tory party a scum-sucking pig, but it's still a misguided attempt to engage by calling the Tory party a scum-sucking pig.