Ellee Seymour

As you can imagine, I have had a busy week working on the Euro election, in fact I was in a different county in the Eastern region almost every day.

Conservatives are feeling very positive and looking forward to the grassroots work in the constituency which MEPs and candidates will visit over the next six weeks.

Here is a link of a video I made this week with our “cusp” candidate John Flack who has a personal slogan, “Give Europe Flack”.

On the personal side, my son James was in another great school production this week and sang beautifully. I am so pleased he is going to study drama at A’level, even though he did give up his top drama school for golf! I was very much the proud mum as I watched him sing a hit from Take That and perform an amazing scene from Blood Brothers.

My eldest son David has come home from Hull uni this weekend especially to support Cambridge United tomorrow in their desperate play-off against Altrincham who are hoping to be promoted back into the Football League. He brought his usual bag of dirty washing with him! He will also want feeding up with his favourite roast dinner, but then, what are mums for…

And my hard working husband is wishing he had not agreed to do some tiling in the bathroom on his day off yesterday having somehow made a hole in the bath. I really did feel for him.

*I promise a visit to my favourite blog sites over the weekend.

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I have a very busy few weeks ahead of me as I am working on the Euro election as Conservative Press Officer for the Eastern Region.

Getting media coverage will be particularly challenging because the regional press has been slashed with considerable redundancies and regard this subject as a bit of a turn-off anyway.

During the last Euro election in 2004, Conservatives won three seats, but this June I am hoping we can claw back one of them from UKIP who then won two. Disastrously for them, one of their former members, Tom Wise, is presently under police investigation over expenses fraud allegations and is now an Independent, having been suspended by UKIP.

We have two very talented and hard working MEPs seeking re-election, Geoffrey Van Orden and Robert Sturdy.

Our remaining stalwart candidates are:

• Vicky Ford
• John Flack
• Jonathan Morgan
• Claire Strong
• Clare Whelan

This election is going to be unlike any other regarding communications because of the internet and social media. There was nothing like this in 2005 when I was Press Officer for Conservative parliamentary candidates in the Eastern Region during the last general election. What we learn about these new campaigning tools from this election will no doubt be of great benefit for the next general election. Obama’s tactics may have been great in America, but how successful will they be with engaging the British electorate?

Our message is clear: Conservative MEPs want to be in Europe, but not run by Europe. They want

• A referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
• To bring back powers from Brussels.
• To end the Strasbourg “circus” of a two-centre Parliament.

They seek to get the best possible deal for the people and businesses of Eastern England, and to represent their views in Europe.

Please sign up and follow our campaign twitter: http://twitter.com/easternregion

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I know I shall not be alone in missing the dry and warm wit of the lugubrious Sir Clement Freud, who has just died aged 84. He was always superb on Just a Minute, and I remember hearing him bantering away not so long ago.

He was also very charming company and I first met him as a very shy cub reporter in Wisbech when he was our local MP. He was the distinguished speaker at a dinner which I was sent to report on.

I don’t know whether I was sent there deliberately as a joke, but when I arrived, I discovered I was the only female present. It was the rugby club’s annual dinner and they had planned an evening of risque jokes for an all-male audience. They had hoped for quite a “blue” evening. I did offer to leave, but Sir Clement wouldn’t hear of it.

I was very embarrassed, but he insisted I sat next to him at the top table and was very attentive. The tone of the evening was modified for my presence and Sir Clement later invited me out for lunch. I was in total awe of him. He also invited me to Westminster, which I sadly never took up.

And what an amazing family he comes from, though they do not seem interested in following in his political footsteps.

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There could well be a perception that blogging is lawless following the latest “Smeargate” sensation. In fact, that is not the case.

Responsible bloggers know that they also have to adhere to the laws of libel and slander, they wouldn’t put their neck on the line. A blogger can be sued for defamation of character if he has written a post that lowers a person’s reputation in the eyes of the readers in the same way as the author of a defamatory article published in a newspaper.

Defamation does not include making insulting or abusive comments, but the publication of facts which could have a serious impact on that person’s standing in society.

Barrister James Tumbridge, a former Conservative parliamentary candidate, has published some guidelines for his law firm Gowlings entitled Defamation, The Dilemma for Bloggers.

He warns about the potential threat of libellous remarks posted in comments which have either passed moderation, or not been moderated at all.

He said legal questions had also been raised over the posting of hyper-links to another website that contains defamatory content.

The waters in all these areas are very muddy and, as yet, untested in British courts. But James is quite clear about what bloggers should do to avoid legal action for defamation:

1. Moderate comments, and if in doubt, remove them, especially if advised they are defamatory.
2. Apologise. Section 2 of the Defamation Act 1996 provides for “making amends” and allows a blogger to apologise or correct the statement in writing. This will reduce the risk of liability.

James concludes: “Regrettably, the only way to be risk free of defamation actions based on the comments left on a blog is not to have them, but what sort of blogosphere would that leave?”

This will never happen as it goes against the nature of blogging. I can’t see comment-free blogs attracting any followers as much of the appeal lies in the conversation posted in the comments. Those which are considered objectionable on some sites tend to be abusive rather than defamatory. It’s just like watching TV, if you don’t like it, don’t watch it, or visit that blog.

Just remember, if you are going to smear without fear, then be sure of your facts, like Guido…

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Here is one good reason why “Smeargate will run, and run…

Just wait till Iain gets his response for FOI information about whether a smear campaign was also being planned against him.

This is what he wrote on his blog a few days ago:

“Two weeks ago, on 27 March, I wrote THIS post in which I outlined my suspicions that Damian McBride, Gordon Brown’s chief political, advisor had sent emails to Derek Draper in early February encouraging a smear campaign against me. I then submitted a Freedom of Information and DPA request to the Cabinet Office asking for details of any information they held on me and for details of any emails sent by Mr McBride relating to me. That FOI Request has been acknowledged by the Cabinet Office and is being processed.”

Why is Labour so scared of bloggers?

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This is Iain Dale’s list of top 20 Tory Twitterers ranked by their number of followers:

1. Boris Johnson 24,341
2. Conservative Party 5,453
3. Iain Dale 3,025
4. James Cleverly 1,701
5. Jonathan Sheppard 1,482
6. Grant Shapps 814
7. Steve Green 793
8. Tim Montgomerie 761
9. Craig Elder 736
10. Conservative Future 709
11. Michael Fabricant MP 496
12. Tory Bear 465
13. Louise Bagshawe 454
14. Ed Vaizey MP 451
15. Phil Hendren (Dizzy) 361
16. Jonathan Isaby 393
17. Shane Greer 386
18. Ellee Seymour 295
19. David Evennett MP 263
20. Alex Singleton 254

This morning my followers were in excess of 320, and last year I deleted 100 when I wasn’t sure about wanting strangers with odd sounding names to know my whereabouts.

I use it in a much more informal way than my blog and write about going to the gym or out with my mother at the weekend. I didn’t think it was the kind of stuff which would interest readers of my blog, though these twitterings are now also published on the side of my site. I also use Twitter to update a link to my blog posts when they are published, alerting Twitter followers if they wish to read them.

I’ve since come to enjoy Twitter very much and use it as a news feed from Sky News or the BBC for their latest bulletins. I hardly ever use Facebook these days; it’s too much of a nuisance to have to sign in every time I want to read or reply to a message, many of which will be of no relevance. With Twitter you don’t have all that bother.

I have been building up new Twitter followers over the weekend either because they interest me on a personal or professional level, or amuse me. I’m particularly keen to build up more media followers in the Eastern Region as I want to use Twitter as a communications tool. So please, if any journalists from East Anglia – and beyond – are reading this and use Twitter, please sign up and follow my Twitterings at this link here. Anyone else is welcome too, of course.

*Louise Bagshawe pointed out to me that we are the only two Tory women on the list. It would be great to see more sign up. The beauty of Twitter is that it is not time consuming, you only type 140 characters and it’s an endless source of information, fun and support when you need it.

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What is there left to be said about the tawdry, squalid smear campaign hatched by Damien McBride and Derek Draper and their slanderous emails against leading Conservative politicians? It’s been splashed across the front of every paper today.

Is this the kind of “best practice” which led to McBride being ranked at No 2 in PR Week’s list of influential political PR leaders in its latest Power Book? It certainly doesn’t say much about their decision making, especially as last summer McBride was singled out for strong criticism in their magazine by Colin Byrne, a former Labour Party chief press officer and leading PR CEO.

He suggested that Tory comms chief Andy Coulson (No 1 on the list) was out-manoeuvring McBride and described his heavy tactics:

“McBride is just phoning up people and shouting at them. That’s all he does. It’s pathetic and they are losing friends left, right and centre in the media. They do need to get an Alastair Campbell or Andy Coulson-type figure in as at the moment there’s no-one who understands the media.”

A pity that didn’t start alarm bells ringing. That’s the background which set the scene to the build up of those desperate emails which backfired so spectacularly, thanks to Guido Fawkes.

I hope Nadine Dorries does sue and proves to these Labour  saddoes that she is not a pushover just because she is blonde, female and hugely amusing as a blogger.

While this has been hugely entertaining for us political geeks, I wonder how much of a turn-off it has been for the rest of the nation who regard it as another row between politicians who are “always at it”.

This Easter has been one helluva bruiser for Labour, showing itself up as the “nasty party”.  Dirty tactics never win. Just ask Hillary Clinton. Do you remember her smears against Obama and those leaked pictures of him wearing a turban? And Sarah Palin won no votes after accusing Obama of  being an unpatriotic man who would “pal around with terrorists”.

* Matthew d’Ancona sums it up brilliantly: “The age of McBride has passed. He was fit for purpose in an era when the media was configured in a certain way: the time of spin doctors, the carrot-and-stick to the media of access to ministers, the conflation of strategy and communications, the control of the ministerial court. All that will continue, of course, but it will no longer be enough. Blogger-pimpernels like Guido Fawkes will see to that. The web cannot be tamed. It cannot even be managed. It will subject this Government and its successors to scrutiny on a scale never seen before.”

*As a psychotherapist, it is totally indefensible of Draper to in any way support smearing the mental state of  George Osborne’s wife for political gain. How low is that?

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You may have noticed that a side panel with my Toastmasters speeches has vanished. That is because I am no longer preparing them in the same way. And they had been there a while anyway and were pretty old.

I used to write my speeches in full and learn them almost word for word. But that is not what public speaking is about.  My personal challenge is to present a confident speech by learning it from a few words written on a card as a prompt. That is what I am doing now in preparation for next Tuesday when I go to Cambridge Speakers’ Club. I am going to speak about a holiday I once had where I met lots of interesting people. All I need to do is remind myself of some of the facts, so it isn’t a difficult topic.

The delivery of Dan Hannan’s powerful speech – which has had more than 2 million hits on YouTube – demonstrated the amazing impact a confident speech can have. It is a skill I would love to excel at. And I know it takes practice, and then more practice.

I think I need to work on improving my eye contact. I concentrate so much on remembering what I have to say that I forget about everything else that is important, such body language, the pauses – and smiling!

Wish me luck.

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I thought you might be interested in having a look at some scenes I recorded of the European Parliament in Brussels. When I last visited four years ago, there was much building work taking place to provide accommodation for MEPs and staff from the new eastern European countries.

That has now been completed and two new office blocks are linked to the main Altiero Spinelli building on Rue Wiertz by a circular path which you will be able to follow. You will see an old facade at the beginning of the film. This belonged to an old railway station and as a treasured monument, it had to remain and the Parliament was built around it.

There is an amazing giant steel sculture in the atrium and I have included some of my favourite fixtures, the wall lights by the lifts and post boxes.

Here is a link to another video I made with Ruth who was on a visit to Robert Sturdy’s office from Defra. I like the cafe you can see with its different coloured seats which break up the beige blandness – and the freshly squeezed orange juice is delicious!

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Some names of missing people remain etched in the memory. One of those is April Fabb, a  13-year-old Norfolk schoolgirl who vanished 40 years ago today.

On April 8, 1969, April had been cycling to her sister’s home in Roughton, near Cromer to give her brother-in-law a birthday present. It was only two miles from her home in Metton, but she never made it along the country lane. In the space of six minutes, between 2.06pm, when she was seen by a tractor driver, and 2.12pm, when her blue and white bike was found lying on its side in a field, she vanished. Nothing has been heard of her since.

Detectives have kept the baffling case open in the hope of receiving fresh information which will provide the desperately needed answers for April’s grieving family.

Her  mother Olive, who is 89, wonders every day what happened to her shy and sensitive daughter who loved picking primroses in a nearby wood.

There are strong similarities between this case and the unsolved disappearance of 13-year-old Genette Tate, a newspaper delivery girl on August 19, 1978.

In memory of those who are still missing.

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