LabourList

LabourList homepage in February 2009
URL	http://www.labourlist.org
Slogan	Where Labour minded people come together
Commercial?	No
Type of site	Blog
Registration	Required to comment on posts
Available language(s)	English
Owner	Company limited by guarantee[1]
Created by	Derek Draper;[2] formerly edited by Alex Smith; now run by Mark Ferguson.
Launched	10 January 2009
Revenue	£28,575 to November 2009, excluding advertising revenue (last publication)[1]
Alexa rank	11,702 in GB[3]
Current status	Active

LabourList is a British aggregated weblog supportive of, but independent of, the Labour Party. Launched in January 2009, the site overcame its founding editor's involvement in the so-called "smeargate scandal" to become one of the most popular and influential political websites in Britain with 305,000 unique readers in its first year.^[2] Describing itself as Labour's "biggest independent grassroots e-network", the site's content includes news, commentary, interviews, campaign information, analysis and opinion from various contributors and sources across the Labour and trade union movement. In June 2009, LabourList became the British affiliate to American liberal news website The Huffington Post.^[4]

Contributors and content [edit]

The site features breaking news, analysis, opinion, policy and ideas from a broad cross-section of the Labour movement from activists to cabinet ministers, in addition to regular editorials and posts by the sitting editor and a core group of columnists, which include Paul Richards and Anthony Painter. Government ministers who have blogged on the site include Peter Mandelson, Ed Balls, David Miliband, Ed Miliband and Douglas Alexander. Labour movement figures such as Alastair Campbell, Sunder Katwala of the Fabian Society, Jessica Asato of Progress and Neal Lawson of Compass number among LabourList's other frequent contributors. Draper himself claimed that the site had done "exceptionally well" to "ask for advice and contributions from readers" leading the "introduction of excellent new grassroots bloggers, like Dan McCurry", who "have much to contribute to the direction and strategy of our movement".^[5] The site has also developed journalists Laurie Penny and Rowenna Davis, and former editor Alex Smith.

History [edit]

In its first few months of life, much external commentary on LabourList was couched in the context of the site's problematic and controversial start. Writing on the publication of the Total Politics Top 100 Political Blogs, leading Tory blogger Iain Dale wrote: "Perhaps the biggest achievement goes to LabourList and Alastair Campbell, who both enter the top twenty after only seven months of blogging activity. For LabourList to appear anywhere at all following its disastrous start under the leadership of Derek Draper is a minor miracle in itself. But its new editor Alex Smith has established it as a serious left of centre forum in a very short time".^[6]

LabourList's coverage of an abortive coup against Gordon Brown in early 2010 drew more praise as the site cemented its reputation as a news source and a reliable barometer for the Labour Party grassroots. Gaby Hinsliff, the former political editor of the Observer, commented that the site was "coming of age"^[7] while the academic Charlie Beckett wrote that LabourList has "recovered both credibility and relevance ... I suspect it will be at least as important as ConservativeHome in understanding Party mood and machinations in the future".^[8]

In 2010, LabourList hosted its first offline events including campaign events to coincide with the TV Leaders' Debates that were taking place during the 2010 General Election.

Editorial developments to the site under Mark Ferguson's editorship include monthly polls of its readership on the "State of the Party" and "Ed's Inbox", a daily aggregation of blogposts from across the blogosphere.

Traffic and influence [edit]

The site has over 305,000 readers visiting 2.5 million pages; 260 contributors writing well over 2,000 posts; 70,000+ reader comments; 3,500 subscribers to the LunchtimeList daily email; 17,300 Twitter followers; and 4,700 Facebook supporters.^[2] The site revealed in March 2011 that it had attracted 70,000 unique readers, its highest ever readership for a single month.Empty citation‎ (help)  According to rankings by Wikio, which measure the "number and weight" of links coming in from other blogs, LabourList has become the second most influential left-wing political blog in Britain, the fourth most influential overall and the 18th most influential in Europe, and is growing in strength.^[9]

By the end of 2009 in an article on left-wing blogging, the editor of ConservativeHome Tim Montgomerie acknowledged that 'there is more evidence today that the Left is getting its online effort together', citing LabourList, amongst others, for the growing credibility and influence of British left-wing sites.^[10]

On 29 January 2010, Labour cabinet minister Ed Balls MP said in interview that "LabourList is flourishing and agenda setting, and that’s very powerful. It’s brought a huge change over the last year. Two years ago, we weren’t on the field when it came to new media. Now, I think we’re ahead of the Tories in new communications. Our people are younger, they’re in the real world, they’re young parents or they’re students, so we ought to be ahead of them in new communications. LabourList and Left Foot Forward are really, really good. A year on from Labour people really grasping this stuff, the reality is now reflected in what’s going on." ^[11]

Personnel [edit]

The site was founded by former political adviser Derek Draper, who was forced to resign after only a few months at the helm. Draper's staffer Alex Smith took over as editor in May 2009. After the election, Smith took a sabbatical from LabourList to work as Director of Communications and Campaigns for Ed Miliband's successful Labour leadership campaign, after which he continued to work for Miliband. In December 2010, Mark Ferguson, who was Acting Editor of LabourList from June, took over the role.

Controversies [edit]

On 11 April 2009, it was reported by the Daily Telegraph that Gordon Brown's special adviser, Damian McBride had sent a series of emails to former LabourList editor, Derek Draper, discussing plans to set up a blog which would be used to post false rumours about the private lives of senior members of the Conservative Party.

McBride resigned later the same day, and 10 Downing Street issued an apology for the "juvenile and inappropriate" emails. Gordon Brown later sent personal letters to those who had been mentioned in the emails,^[12] expressing his regret over the incident.

In the wake of the incident, Labour sought to distance itself from LabourList owing to its connection with Draper.^[13] Draper also came under pressure to resign his post as editor of LabourList.^[14] Peter Oborne criticised Draper's failure to resign and his continued association with the site as "morally revolting".^[15] On Wednesday May 6, Draper stepped down from his position as Editor.

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• LabourList
• LabourList on Twitter