More follows…

Dave has just finished a speech laying out some of his big ideas for the oft-promised (by him) “Post-Bureaucratic Age”.  He is advocating local control over schools, housing and policing with the right to initiate local and national referenda. More mayors; fewer quangos and open primaries for parliamentary candidates. 

All good, but has he really got the revolutionary zeal of Margaret Thatcher needed to take on the entrenched bureaucracy?

Dave is promising something easily achievable, so long as he can change the secrecy culture in public life:

“Everything about our political process published online, all the time: the expenses, the spending, the lobbying, parliamentary proceedings, the lot.”

That is doable.  Guido also wants to see every government contract published online, it is our money, we want to see where it is going.  “Commercially sensitive” is code for sellers don’t like price competition, secrecy hinders open competition driving down costs.  Publish what we pay.

Guido is even more sceptical about his plans to curb the power of the whips in parliament and the influence  of spin doctors in government.  It is not like he is without spin doctors in opposition.

He appears to be getting ideas from reading the right stuff.  In the Guardian this morning Cameron said

“the new politics we need should be a massive, sweeping, radical redistribution of power: from the state to citizens; from the government to parliament; from Whitehall to communities; from the EU to Britain; …  we must take power from the elite and hand it to the man and woman in the street.”

Dan Hannan and Douglas Carswell obviously influenced the writer because in their “The Plan” they said

“We need a radical shift of power …. redistribute power back, from Brussels to Westminster, from Whitehall to town halls, from the state to the citizens. …. disperse power among communities, through localism and through referendums”.

“The Plan” is a huge hit, an Amazon bestseller and the all-time best-selling publish-on-demand publication ever sold by Amazon.  Guido simply can’t recall a wonkish policy manifesto selling like this before. “The Road to Serfdom“ maybe back in the forties is the only equivalent that comes to mind.  The internet is really, finally, starting to change how we do politics...

See also : Political Class Starting to Fear the Public’s Anger

38 Degrees, the UK version of MoveOn has finally launched.  It has no formal link to MoveOn, but is advised by one of the MoveOn team.  MoveOn was itself an online campaign launched to shore up the Clinton presidency when Matt Drudge mired slick Willy in scandal and possible impeachment over his lying about Monica Lewinsky.

The campaign is however keen to not be seen as pro-Labour, in truth it is not a Labour project, it is however of the progressive left-of-centre aiming to “advance fairness, defend rights, promote peace, preserve the planet and deepen democracy in the UK”. The holding company behind it is called Progressive Majority, which gives the game away.  The leading figure is David Babbs, who comes from Friends of the Earth, in fact most of the leading figures and finance are from the green movement.  Blue State Digital UK did the website, which is a cut above the usual with fancy but meaningless imagery.

Sunny Hundal’s Liberal Conspiracy was originally spun as a MoveOn type operation when it launched, he is giving a grudging welcome to the group this morning.  Guido agrees with Sunny that the name is not brilliant, but wishes them best of luck with their first campaign – a recall law for MPs.  Anything that weakens the power of politicians and strengthens the power of the people…