So Carol Vorderman (of all people) flagged on Twitter earlier this month that conservative MP's and councilors had removed the word conservative or any link to The Conservative Party on their twitter profiles...
Just seen today that my local MP (conservative) has the parliament logo on all physical promotional materials & no mention of any link to the conservative party physical or on any social media (other than own website). Prior to 2023, they had at least a conservative logo on everything.
How's your local MP looking (conservative or otherwise)...?
I'd love to tell you but my Tory MP (Brexiteer, Boris then Liz supporting James Daly) has blocked me from all social media, as he has done to all his constituents who say anything other than "aren't the Tory party just absolutely bloody brilliant and these Brexit sunny uplands are even better than anyone could possibly have hoped for!"
Ask him a question? Blocked!
I believe this is also something they're doing en masse. Theresa Coffey (or more likely one of her minions) appears to have blocked half the UK
As I've designed some of the local labour party media and been out leafletting at the weekend I can tell you that theres Labour party logos aplenty,
Also on the material is lots of reminders for people to take ID to polling stations or they'll be turned away due to the latest Tory voter suppression wheeze. I think that loads of people are still blissfully unaware of this and I can see it royally kicking off on election day when lots of people are being turned away from polling stations and told they're not allowed to vote
My local tory MP Nigel Mills - no visible branding anymore.
Weird!
EDIT: Even on his About page there's no mention of the Conservative Party...
https://nigelmillsmp.com/about/
Just seems like a (not so) subtle more towards a general election, all of my MP's branding and marketing materials had some sort of mention (subtle or otherwise) of the party until recently.
It's not just social media. The conservative party seems to have rebranded it's self 'your local MP for .....' across the board.
Since my local Tory MP has her own thread I doubt the visibility of her political leanings will be in any way diluted by removal of any logos or words.
Party rebrand time - I can think of a few options.
My Tory MP (the useless Edward Argar) doesn't seem to have social media but his personal we page is still very blue and has a link to the Conservatives.
He has a 22k majority in a set with 79k people in it, so I suspect he probably DGAF.
I can think of a few options.
Hindu symbolism or a couple of pound signs 😕
The unpleasant BJ fanboi Andrew Griffith (Arundel and South Downs) removed his Conservative branding, and went with an everything green in leaflets at least a year ago. THink Vorders is posting lots of those on her Twitter
In his email to constituents he never mentions the cost-of-living etc - just lots of pics of visiting schools and country fairs
Hard to work out how things will work at the next GE as A&SD disappears as a constituency. This end has potential to go LD as very strong showing in local elections and very EUPhile. THe other end is lots of country buffers, so not sure whether there is enough to change things there. Suspect Griffith will bail as he was only parachuted in in 2019 as a reward for supporting BJ's leadership bid. Probably get a seat in the Lords.
He blocked me back in 2019 cos I laughed at him comparing BJ with Churchill during GE campaigning. Pretty sure I was closer to the truth on that one.
A cursory look through my MP Craig Whittakers website reveals no mention of the conservatives or a logo. I'm not looking at his social media stuff, but would assume it's the same. He's not standing next time though. Which is a shame as I'd LOVE to have seen him beaten!
My MP Anne Marie Trevelyan, ERG member, has not removed any of the Conservative branding from her stuff, however, she has a 15k majority and Labour have never held this seat. Quite bizarre in one of the poorest County's in the UK.
Been like that for a while in Scotland, for at least the last 2 or 3 years. No mention of the Conservative Party on leaflets etc.
It's always on the ballot paper though.... what's the point?
It’s always on the ballot paper though…. what’s the point?
To stop people automatically switching off when they see "Conservative Party" on leaflets and websites?
Just looked on James "Weasel" Daly's ****ter account.
No mention of being a conservative in his bio test, but it has it written on the banner in tiny letters. The tree logo is nowhere to be seen.
Jus checked my local MP Suzanne Webb has no mention on her socials or in the headlines of her website, but is it on the website a bit further down.
Surely you'd be proud to represent the party you stand for...???
Lowered myself to check in mine, no mention of his party but I'm not sure this tweet will stand him in good stead.
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This was referred to on another thread - possibly the sunak one - but is, I think a stand alone subject.
Huge thumbs up to Carol Vorderman for trying to turn this into an issue of concern - which it is; her exchange of messages with 30p lee was enjoyable.
Tories have clearly recognised that '...I'm a tory, vote for me' is neither a vote nor election winning line.
It's as if they're ashamed of what they stand for and are trying to hide it.
The adoption of green as a background colour by tories appears to be widespread.
How long before this is picked up by the media and given the focus it deserves?
Think Daily Politics, QT, Any Questions, Peston, PMQs and print media.
Being kind - perhaps a re-brand is coming and they want to make sure all media is clear of old branding first?
If MPs manage their own social media it will doubtless be done by a well meaning pensioner who can barely start up Word! 🙂
My local tory MSP still has conservative branding. Of course she is a regional list MSP so does not need a majority
I thought it was worth mentioning as I can understand the removal of logos from social media, but all physical promotional materials as well?
I spotted that on Redwoods twitter too. It's just a blue header and the usual babble about taxes.
I wondered if it was a cynical extension of "we're the natural party of government", if you just tell people that this is your MP, does that psychologically discourage them from voting otherwise?
My local Tory, John Lamont has been doing this for years. He publishes a newsletter that drops through the door every now and again. Quite a big publication, like a small newspaper. Not a single reference to Conservative party, Tory or any noticeable logo on it anywhere. Same on Facebook.
I've just had a look and the Deputy Chairman of the Tory party, '30p Lee' Anderson, has removed any Tory Party branding from his social media and website
So its clearly a dictat ordered from central office
I had a look at Nadine Dorries too (so you don't have to). It had no Tory branding but to be honest I reckon thats because by the look of it, it was put together by a 6 year old for a school project
I wonder if there's anything in the ministerial code that says MP's have to be clear or open and honest about the party they work for? I had a quick look and couldn't find anything - might have to lobby my MP 😂.
Has anyone checked any labour MP websites? I wonder if this is because it's their parliamentary presence rather than their political/campaigning presence.
Tulip siddiqs site doesn't have any labour branding, although it is mentioned in the about me section.
My MP -Bill Wiggin, 24000 majority in 2019- has gained a new website since I last looked at it. Again, absolutely no reference to or logo of the Conservative Party on the home page, and you have to look pretty closely to find any reference on other pages.
He doesn’t do twitter but nothing on his Facebook page either.
Has anyone checked any labour MP websites?
Just looked up Chris Bryant as an example, interestingly nothing on his website but clearly stated on his twitter feed.
Has anyone had any literature through the door from the local tories for the council elections yet? We haven’t seen anything, only from the Green Party candidate. I’d be interested to see what is on their stuff (because it seems some have put pleading messages not to ‘punish’local tories for the government’s mistakes and our ward candidate says he is a ‘local Conservative’)
the mp for where i live devizes freddy sorry danny kruger has no tory branding on his web page or anything pertaining to his toryness.
i live in devizes which unfortunately is a tory stronghold but in my defence i didn't or ever will vote for any of them ever.
roll on the general election where i won't be voting tory again or ever as above.
My MP is a useless sock puppet who has a wafer thin majority and will be gone come the election.
This hasn’t stopped him putting out leaflets that are largely green in colour and have no mention of him being a Tory.
I’m dubious how successful a tactic this will be, as for all the talk of voting for a local MP people largely vote along party lines unless there’s good reason.
Interesting. My MP still has @Conservatives on her Twitter page but no mention of her party on her website homepage.
Michelle Donelan still displaying Conservative banner on her website.
Maybe they are rebranding everything during Operation IRON CROSS ,a new design of an old Hindu symbol 👍🤣🤣🙃
The adoption of green as a background colour by tories appears to be widespread.
How long before this is picked up by the media and given the focus it deserves?
Would be interested to know what a good copyright + trademarks lawyer could make of that. Probably not much with green having such wide association but who knows. I think if we can have passing off in IP and a Plain English campaign for written contracts etc there could be some fairly tight rules on political campaigning clarity. Well, obviously there won't be for a while..
‘local Conservative’
Plenty of that distancing in local leaflets here. But vote Tory locally, get Toried nationally.
He publishes a newsletter that drops through the door every now and again. Quite a big publication, like a small newspaper. Not a single reference to Conservative party, Tory or any noticeable logo on it anywhere. Same on Facebook.
We get two or three of these.
1 carries no branding (but is from the Tories and trying to blame decades of austerity and crap local government on the last 6 months of a Lib Dem minority run council)
1 is the "Wokingham Conservatives"
The last one is explicitly Lib Dems
Is the encumbent identified on polling cards?
I feel this is doomed to failure based on the apathy of the average (modal) voter
They stripped it to the bone in Scotland ages back- it was all "Ruth Davidson's party", my local dude even took out most of the blue.
My MP for the Forest of Dean, Mark Harper, Transport Secretary, has the Tory tree and the word Conservative on his site.
First time I have ever looked at my Tory MPs website so can't say if changed but no mention of Conservative party.
Also looks like he may have got his mum to do the web design.
The adoption of green as a background colour by tories appears to be widespread.
Same with my MP, Robert Largan.
Green background, no mention anywhere of being a Tory Scum.
Lots of pictures of him posing though, clearly Taking Action and Doing Things.
It was a Conservative gain seat at the last election, it's flipped back and forth a bit.
Finlay Carson msp for Dumfries & Galloway has been omitting any mention of conservative on his flyers for a while now. Seems they’re all at it.
My MP, Jessie “Tim-Nice-But-Dim” Norman has removed any mention of party or logos from his Twitter account, it’s only mentioned as a local Conservative on his website. Again no logos.
A newspaper for the local elections dropped through the door last week. It was a slag-fest of the local Green / Independent city council and everything was their fault. I struggled to find anywhere on it who it was from. Tiny text on the back page that it was from the “local conservatives”.
Rats in a sack on a floundering ship.
This is straight out of the Republican play book in the USA. In the liberal areas in North East it is almost impossible to find out who is Republican and they try to come across as reasonable people with sensible policies on wasteful public spending, crime etc. not a MAGA hat in sight. Occasionally works but usually people can sniff them out!
This started sometime ago with a few local Tories trying to "distance themselves" from the Tory government in order to try and hold onto their seats in local elections. Someone was actually quoted as saying "please don't blame us for what our party is doing down in London". I guess now they are all doing it. How naive do they think people are????
How naive do they think people are????
I'd say very! They've been voted in a few times 😂
Yep, look at how naive people have been over the last 40 years. A LOT of voters don't actually vote for the party that would actually be better for them let alone what would be better for society as a whole.