A shakeup of how Westminster gets reported online is underway. The semi-paywalled PoliticsHome has just merged with Westminster institution Dods. Liberal and Labour blogs are hammering ConservativeHome in the traffic stakes, but many still rely on the unions for funding. And Iain Dale's back with his mega-blog.
Enter into that crowded environment Wikiminster - a site which promises to eschew gossip and focus on policy. The Huffington Post UK talks to the two men who're trying to carve out a space in this crowded landscape.
The project began on a spring evening on the terrace of the House of Lords. Two childhood friends were discussing their two professions digital publishing and politics and how they would merge. The result? Wikiminster, a new site aiming to provide a window into the political debate.
In a nutshell, it’s a group blog with news, views and analysis written by Westminster insiders for the general public.
Contributions from insiders are sourced by Andre Walker, a chief of staff for a Conservative MP. It’s not his first foray into the digital world, after being forced to resign for attempting to smear a political opponent on youtube. His version of the story? “There’s good moments and bad moments”.
He and his business partner, digital publishing specialist Ian Matthews, hope Wikiminster will be a good moment. The two men behind the site have known one another all their lives – and have a bond which Matthews describes as like a sibling relationship.
“I grew up next door to Andre, I was eight when he was born. We're old family friends. My first memory of him was him being brought home from the hospital I think my mum had gone round to get the house ready for his mum, I remember going around with her and then he turned up.”
Their close knit relationship is important, as they both work on Wikiminster outside of their normal jobs.
They’re hoping to make it a success through “burning the midnight oil” and through the site’s USP –its insider perspective.
Matthews explains: “We're coming from the inside not the outside. That's our biggest USP. We're not interested in gossip, point scoring, you won't find us gloating over a member of one party begin caught with their pants down.
“Our contributors are pretty much all Westminster insiders just using the village network. Some people are posting anonymously, so they can say things they otherwise wouldn't be able say.
“We have Daniel Hamilton from Big Brother Watch, Mark Wallace of The Taxpayers' Alliance, and plenty of researchers and MPs' staffers are going to be writing as well to give us some inside views.”
For Walker the site’s important because it explains how policy works: "Rather than reading a department's response what will happen is people will start saying this is what the discussion is in Westminster - just giving people a real sense of how things work on the inside and what people are thinking in terms of policy.
“Rather it being the thinktanks and the politicians who talk, it's the political advisers having ideas. I'm the publisher, I make sure it all gets to market, and Andre's the insider and the contact."
But with a site run by a Conservative aide and with right-wing leaning bloggers, will it only provide one perspective?
Matthews says they are deliberately signing up left-leaning contributors: “We don't want it to be another right wing blog there are plenty who do that well.”
“Our target market is anybody who cares about the political direction of the country. From the politically obsessed journalists and party insiders to local government workers and union activists.”
The ultimate aim according to Matthews is “to go beyond just a website, we want to establish a digital publishing element to this. We want to create an ebook which will provide an extended window into the political debate. The website will exist anyway… [but] it's not that easy to monetise a website, it's really hard work. Rather than make that happen why not find the writers and turn it into something that's easy to monetise?”
Since the site had its launch on July 1, the two men say the numbers of visitors are “exploding” and in the five figures, but the actual stats are commercially sensitive. Although it's difficult to find comparisons here, there are examples of politico-driven websites working - the Washington-based blog Wonkette began life in a similar fashion, although that's morphed from policy analysis to into a more quirky, gossipy site in recent years.
Walker says they are now going back to their volunteers: “We’re asking them to come up with something completely different that reflects their inside knowledge. We're thinking of getting articles on how political advisers in the coalition are working together.”
The bottom line, Walker says, is about giving people who have insight into Westminster in voice.
“I know a lot of people who have a very important story to tell - people genuinely would be interested in hearing what these people have to say.”