Ros Taylor has enjoyed some “naval gazing”, comparing the innards of ConservativeHome versus the new Labour version; she is the Grauniad feature writer who called me yesterday.

She concludes:

“The first two waves of British political blogging – led by neoconservatives and Tories – were motivated by decisions that genuinely gripped the political classes: the war in Iraq and the Tory leadership. Those Labour neocons are now in retreat and will remain so until they find a foreign policy crusade that they feel they can win. In the meantime, LabourHome has to make do with the rather more abstract question of how Labour should reinvent (or “renew”) itself in time for the next election. Around that question lie a multitude of issues of vital interest to a few and marginal importance to the rest: nuclear power, the role of the private sector in the NHS and education, Trident, civil liberties, Iran, the environment, local finance, and so on. Unless and until one of these – or another talking point – seizes the imagination of Labour supporters, LabourHome is going to have a hard time attracting them.

“If a disaffected ex-Blairite were to set up a blog, and use it to gather support for a change of leader or direction, that might change. For the time being, however, the fear of breaking ranks and damaging the party is too great. For all the disaffection among the Labour ranks, the sense of party discipline is strong. It may be that Labour will only truly feel at home on the web when the party is back in opposition. ”

Now there’s a challenge for Labour…