'Blogger to launch political mag', Sky News Online

Friday, December 21, 2007

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Web Pundit To Launch Political Magazine, By James Silver, Media reporter

A bit like opening a restaurant, launching a magazine can be a mug's game: a sure-fire way to haemorrhage vast sums of cash.

However, fear of losing his shirt - or more accurately those belonging to his mysterious backers - has so far not deterred political geek and influential Conservative blogger Iain Dale.

In March, Dale plans to launch The Politico, which he describes as "a trade magazine for the political classes".

Pitched at politics nerds and the kind of people who follow the activities of parliamentary select committees, the monthly title will be sent free of charge to all of Britain's elected politicians, ranging from MPs to district councillors - a circulation of about 25,000 people.

The rest of us will have to fork out about £30 for an annual subscription.

"The green button is about to be pushed," says Dale, who will be The Politico's publisher, sitting in his cramped office in the basement of an impressive Westminster townhouse, a stone's throw from Parliament.

"Everyone you speak to about magazine publishing tells you that it's a cut-throat business with a high failure rate. And we've not got megabucks to lavish on PR campaigns.

"But our greatest strength is that we know our audience because we come from the political world. And we also believe the advertising market is out there.

"Our USP is that we're the only magazine that will go to every elected politician in the country and a lot of advertisers will want to reach them."

The Politico, says Dale, will be the antidote to The House magazine, Westminster's "campus" journal.

"Unlike The House, we will be light, accessible and tabloid-style. We'll be something politicians actually want to read. There won't be stuffy articles on Lib Dem fiscal policy, for example."

But won't Dale's political baggage - he is on the shortlist to be Conservative candidate for Ann Widdecombe's seat of Maidstone and the Weald and describes himself on his blog as "right-leaning" - put off whole swathes of readers from other parties?

"Absolutely not. We've appointed an editor - I can't tell you who it is yet - who is a Labour supporter. We're very keen to recruit a Lib Dem. I'm sure we'll break all sorts of employment legislation by insisting on that? But we want a broad church.

"The magazine won't have an editorial line, and although I'm happy for all the articles to be opinionated, there has to be some sort of balance throughout. If anyone, when reviewing us, describes us as Conservative-leaning, then I'm afraid we'll have failed."

On the eve of our meeting, Dale had quit internet political-TV venture 18 Doughty Street to focus on The Politico.

Rumours abounded that he had fallen out with 18DS founder and financer Stefan Shakespeare. But that is something he is quick to deny.

"I had dinner last night with Stefan, so there really was no falling out and I will still do things for them here and there," he says.

"But 18DS has changed into something I didn't sign up to do. What I enjoyed doing most were long interviews. Now he's decided he wants to do something rather different?a much more news-based enterprise, with short video-clips.

"It may well be quite successful but I've never wanted to be in news and I think Stefan is going down the news and opinion route."

A self-styled "Essex boy", Dale has been through many incarnations from bookshop owner to publisher and broadcaster.

But he has really made his name through his blog which has become a must-read in political circles.

Iain Dale's Diary now claims some 500,000 page impressions a month - quite a feat for one bloke with a laptop.

"If you measure my "Actual Unique Visitors" - which means individuals -then I have 50,000 of them a month, that's far more than the New Statesman's [print] circulation," he says.

"I also find it unbelievable than I get more hits on my blog than the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties do on their sites combined.

"If I was them I'd be horrified."

So where does he think the political parties are going wrong in cyberspace?

"They're talking at people, rather than talking to them. There's a dialogue going on my blog. I may not like what people post a lot of the time, but at least it's a conversation. The parties don't have forums, they don't have blogs, they're terrified of their message being diluted. They are freaked out by the lack of control.

"The political party that understands that blogging and new media in general is an opportunity rather than a threat will be the one that breaks through. I thought the Conservatives were heading in the right direction, but I've seen little evidence in the past year that they 'get it'."

Dale says there are serious lessons to be learned from Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign in France earlier this year.

"Sarkozy absolutely embraced every form of new media. They created Sarkozy TV. Twelve million people looked at it. He's absolutely sure that part of the reason for his victory was because of what he did on the internet.

"And that's just not happening here. The main parties here have to learn that they can't just play at [new media and blogging]."

Last weekend, Dale was interviewed by Maidstone and the Weald Tory bigwigs - along with 21 other candidates - as he seeks to become their MP.

I ask him why he wants to give up his wide-range of activities in order to be backbench lobby-fodder in Westminster?

"It's a virus you can't get rid of. I remember having this conversation with [Tory frontbencher] Michael Gove about five years ago when I was trying to persuade him to get involved.

"I said 'Michael, you can pontificate all you like, you can write your columns, you can do the Moral Maze, but in the end you can't change a thing that way. You can only change things by being an MP'.

"So, that's why I want to do it and I'm realistic enough to know that if I don't do it next time round, I'll never do it."

Given the current fad for young party leaders, at 45 - with a general election at least a year away - his chances of making the front-bench would be slim.

"I never thought of going into politics to become a minister," he claims. "I'd be perfectly happy being a back-bencher because you can actually do things as a back-bencher."

But to get ahead, I persist, he will have to do a passable impression of a sheep, at least for a while?

He laughs. "That's not going to happen. I think anyone who knows me will tell you I'd make a pretty disruptive sheep."

Posted by James Silver - On Friday, December 21, 2007

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