Are MPs going to have problems using Twitter during the general election?

26 November 2009 , ,

There’s been a flurry of discussion, mainly on Twitter, following PR Week’s report highlighting the possible problem for MPs who have “MP” in their Twitter name.

That’s because Parliament’s rules say you can’t call yourself an MP if you’re not one and all MPs stop being ones when Parliament is dissolved for a general election.

There are really only two things to bear in mind about the story:

(1) We have a story of this type in the run up to every general election since t’internet came along. Previously it’s been “MPs will have to shut websites” or “MPs will have to stop sending emails”. But in practice the combination of Parliament being sensibly flexible over its rules (yes, I did just write that – clearly not the same team of people as the ones still wanting to keep Parliamentary footage off YouTube) and a little bit of ingenuity has always got round the issue.

(2) It’s very easy to change your name on Twitter, as I demonstrated earlier today becoming an MP and then stopping becoming an MP. If only elections were that easy.

But of course, it’s more fun to just PANIC!!!!!!

What’s more of an issue is that the Government’s decision not to use existing legal powers to update election imprint laws means that there isn’t clear guidance on what candidates (ex MPs or not) should do to stay the right side of the law. If we see some anonymous attack tweets directed at candidates that question could become a lively one.

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Frugal Dougal
Frugal Dougal

Fair comment - and Web 2.0 will just be one part of electioneering: the rest will be largely composed of wearing out shoe-leather.

Richard
Richard

These rules just cannot be applied on the internet. So, for example, the courts think that an internet page is republished as new each time it is served to a web browser. If this is the same interpretation, which legally it should be, taken by the parliamentary authorities then basically any reference to 'MP' would have to be removed even from press releases or speeches etc that are years old. Fortunately, the previous common sense answer has been to ignore the law and stick a disclaimer on the header or footer of the website saying something like 'Any references on this website to my work as an MP are purely historical and apply only to the 2001-2005 parliament' etc.

Trackbacks

  1. Barb McMillen says:
    November 26, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    RT @tweetmeme Are MPs going to have problems using Twitter during the general election? | Mark Pack http://bit.ly/8pEML3

  2. Terence Eden says:
    November 29, 2009 at 2:23 pm

    @loudmouthman @jonmulholland here's @markpack's article on MPs with mp in their @. http://www.markpack.org.uk/twitter-general-election/

  3. So, why can’t you call yourself an MP? says:
    December 17, 2009 at 10:27 am

    [...] There are three other regular parts of this tradition. First, the danger usually gets talked up at the expense of a cool look at the actual risks. In the case of Twitter, they are pretty minimal because you can change your name and back again (as I did). [...]

  4. So, why can’t you call yourself an MP? | Mark Pack says:
    December 19, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    [...] There are three other regular parts of this tradition. First, the danger usually gets talked up at the expense of a cool look at the actual risks. In the case of Twitter, they are pretty minimal because you can change your name and back again (as I did). [...]

  5. What happens to MPs’ websites when Parliament is dissolved? says:
    March 12, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    [...] an MP and you’re not allowed to call yourself an MP if you aren’t one. That story was rather over-played though it did spur me to dig out quite what the sanctions would be, which in turns out isn’t [...]

  6. What happens to MPs’ websites when Parliament is dissolved? | Mark Pack says:
    March 15, 2010 at 9:19 am

    [...] an MP and you’re not allowed to call yourself an MP if you aren’t one. That story was rather over-played though it did spur me to dig out quite what the sanctions would be, which in turns out isn’t [...]

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