This weekend was a difficult choice for some; Glasto or the Brexit Party’s “Big Vision Rally”. In the end Michael Heaver and 5,000 others decided to wave their glow sticks in Birmingham. Still a bit trippy…
MC Nigel entered the hall to people putting their hands up to the sound of Macklemore’s “The ceiling can’t hold us”. The actual purpose was to unveil 100 prospective parliamentary candidates. Don’t think we got given all their names to drill down their social media histories…
Arron Banks is backing a new “anti-establishment” news and comment website to be run by Nigel Farage’s former spinner Michael Heaver. “Westmonster” will apparently be “modelled on the Drudge Report”, so expect plenty of external links aggregating Brexit/UKIP news stories. This is Heaver’s second attempt at an aggregator website. Certainly interesting to see if it takes off – Heaver can tap into the social media following from Banks’ Leave.EU so he will be starting with a very decent Facebook presence. The site is not to be confused with the Westmonster which launched in 2007 and went bust a year or so later.
Westmonster will enter the crowded ideological media space ocupied by the likes of Breitbart London and Conservative Woman, offering op-eds and hot takes starting with Farage today. There is a niche for alt-right style viral news and opinion, and as Breitbart have found it brings a lot of trash traffic. Tough to maintain credibility while chasing those sorts of clicks though. So what can readers expect? Links in the Westmonster ‘trending’ section this morning include “Brits want burka banned”, its first blog rails against “wall-to-wall bitching and whining from Remoaners”. Guido wishes them well…
Changes behind the scenes in Nigel Farage’s top team: his no nonsense head of media Michael Heaver is departing to set up a new media venture and make the case for UKIP on TV. He will be replaced by up-and-comer Dan Jukes, who previously worked on the digital side of things. It’s a busy job – Nigel’s comms chief has to field media bids around the clock. Often while at lunch. Herman Kelly in Brussels is still doing international media. Guido fact: Jukes and Heaver call themselves “the Brylcreem Boys” due to their metropolitan penchant for male grooming…
