Why is Miliband showcasing Tory blogs and ignoring Labour bloggers?

Environment secretary and occasionally thought of as a potential party leader, David Miliband, has a blog. But it's hard to understand the latest updating of his blog and the almost total invisibility of the Labour leaning blogosphere in its design and links. Hey David....remember us!?

Miliband’s site links to 11 blogs:

• 3 of these are to journalist sites such as Nick Robinson (former chair of the young conservatives);
• four link to Conservative sites including tory boys Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale;
• there is 1 Liberal Democrat link;
• leaving a mere 3 links to Labour supporting sites.

Why link to Dale? He is part of a group of tories organising dodgy attack ads against Labour colleagues. Guido Fawkes is a tory tosser who has called Miliband a "humourless control freak" and co-ordinated an online campaign to sabotage a wiki project lead by Miliband - which then had to be suspended. -  Guess what Guido gets a link on the Miliband blog but none of the large number of progressive blogs out there get bigged up on the minister's web site.

David, this is a poor show. If you need some ideas of who to link to, why don’t you put this blog on your links? And if you need any other ideas, why don’t you regularly check with the list of recent posts from Labour supporting blogs on Bloggers 4 Labour??

UPDATE: Thanks to Iain Dale for linking to this post in such a typically insightful manner. I heartily recommend all readers who have stumbled upon this blog through dale to read this rather interesting open letter to the establishment's favourite blogging tory boy.

Comments

[Guido Fawkes]

Could it be because Guido is talking up Miliband's prospects?

[Praguetory]

Are you putting your hat in the ring for Labour's most humourless control freak?

[Praguetory]

Are you putting your hat in the ring for Labour's most humourless control freak?

[The Labour Humanist]

Praguetory - oh look here come the tory trolls with their rapier wit and repartee

[Garry]

The reason is that Miliband's blog is hosted on a government website. Because of that, he's attempted to provide a balanced set of links. If he wants to make party political points or have a party political blogroll, he should set up a private blog.

Top link in the update, btw.

[Essex Boy]

leaving a mere 3 links to Labour supporting sites.

Perhaps Rats, Ships and Sinking come to mind.

[Henry Whitmarsh]

Surely the question is why the taxpayer is funding Miliband's blog at all. If they weren't he could choose his own links.

[Drew SW London]

Since this alleged blog of Miliband's is paid for by the taxpayers (not the Labour Party), I'd have thought a distribution of links to political blogs in line with The Guardian ICM poll today would be reasonable - and would give the Left erm.. 2.5 out of eight (31%).

Move along now, no scandal to see here...

[Random]

If you knew about blogging then you'd realise that people put links to blogs they think are interesting. They don't necessarily agree with them, but they probably read them occasionally. Look at Iain Dale's which you clearly have read) he has a list of Labour blogs, as well as blogs by Labour MPs and peers, despite the lower presence of the left in general in political blogs in the UK.

So why do you think Milliband has no link here?

[Reagan Fan]

You lot are priceless, Iain accuses you of behaving like children so, you spit the dummy again! LOL! Carry on...

[Praguetory]

You'd be disappointed if I didn't turn up. News in brief - "Labour blogger attacks Tory trolls who attack the said Labour blogger for attacking another Labour blogger who links to Tory bloggers who attack Labour blogs"