Iain Dale, who is coming out of his 'retirement' from political blogging, decrees mainstream media has 'eaten up the blogosphere' – but leftwing bloggers claim rightwingers like him have just run out of puff
He was among the most influential of political bloggers, who shocked the online community late last year by giving up posting. But next month Iain Dale makes a return to the internet at the helm of a new online magazine with a group of 60 "retired bloggers" and writers.
Those already signed up for "The Daley: Iain Dale and Friends" include Shelagh Fogarty, BBC 5 Live's recently departed breakfast presenter, Tom Harris MP, and television personality Christine Hamilton – as Dale argues that the influence of individual political bloggers is waning.
Dale said he wanted to set up the new venture because he could no longer sustain an individual political blog, as "I couldn't write three or four times a day" while his other media interests expanded, and because he doubted their relevance. He added he had "come to the conclusion that the mainstream media had eaten up the blogosphere".
Nevertheless, Dale said he "still wanted an outlet" to write occasionally, and had taken to recruiting "60 friends", many of whom had given up on individual blogging. He said that "he was not even sure" that the Daley was a blog or even a group blog, but rather "an online magazine; it will be designed to look like a newspaper or periodical".
Dale's "death of the political blog" thesis comes at a time when the US Huffington Post is preparing to move into the UK and when the first wave of high-profile political bloggers – a grouping dominated by conservatives – are no longer so active as individual writers.
Tim Montgomerie, who set up and runs Conservative Home, wants to move on to "another phase in my career", while Paul Staines, who set up the scabrous Guido Fawkes site leaves much of the day-to-day writing to his deputy, Harry Cole. Staines also told the Guardian that he also believed that "he thought some of the energy had gone out of blogging; it isn't the new thing any more".
However, both of those have created small businesses, while Dale has focused on building up his personal own media interests. Montgomerie's upmarket Conservative Home employs four and turns over "about £300,000" selling "consultancy based on our knowledge of the Conservative party" and enjoys the backing of Lord Ashcroft.
Meanwhile, Staines runs a blog advertising network and acts as a "mini Max Clifford", selling some news to tabloid newspapers. For him the secret is turning a blog into a business, and although advertising rates have fallen by three-quarters he says he can sell adverts at a still remunerative cost of £5 per thousand viewers. "There are a lot of bloggers like Dizzy Thinks bowing out, but we've made it sustainable – and we're having as much fun as ever."
All continue to report healthy traffic – with Conservative Home running at 20,000 visitors a day and Guido's Order Order site 50,000 visitors – and still can help set the news agenda as Guido Fawkes did last year when his reports about William Hague's friendship with his male then assistant prompted the foreign secretary to deny they had a relationship.
Leftwing and centrist pundits counter that the Dale's death of political blogging argument is greatly exaggerated. Sunny Hundal, who runs the Liberal Conspiracy site, which claims to be the first to have revealed the details of the coalition agreement last May, said that "rightwing bloggers are suffering from fatigue" and have lost momentum because they "were in campaigning mode against the Labour government". Traffic at the site runs at 100,000 visitors a month – its highest non-election level.
Will Straw, who founded the self-styled "evidence-based" Left Foot Forward site and whose father is the former foreign secretary Jack Straw, did leave to join the left of centre thinktank the IPPR at the end of last year. But Straw is emphatic that his decision does not endorse Dale's thesis: "I went into my career to be more of an ideas person than a journalist" and said that his goal was to create "a research focused rebuttal blog for the left".
He points out that he has left behind an operation with two staff and an intern and about £70,000 a year in income from a mixture of donors. Left Foot Forward claims to be the first blog to have predicted Ed Miliband would win the Labour leadership election – and that Ed Balls would come third.
Paul Waugh, who left a job at the Evening Standard to run the Ashcroft backed Politics Home site last year, admits that "a lot of people have got tired of blogging" because it is "hard to get going if you are not getting paid". Money for all bloggers remains a major problem, and traffic levels in the tens of thousands make it very difficult to generate as much as a £1,000 a month without a very targeted advertising strategy.
Waugh's daily email, though, is read by David Cameron among others, and he says that his online focus means he can break stories by reacting faster than others to the Twitterstream – being the first for example to spot that Peter Hain was one of the first to tweet in complaint about the lack of camera coverage of Ed Miliband at the royal wedding.
Nevertheless there is no shortage of emerging bloggers such as Sue Marsh, a disability campaigner, or Ed Jacobs, who blogs about politics in the UK's nations on Left Foot Forward, while many established political thinkers, such as Matthew Taylor, the No 10 aide who now is chief executive of the Royal Society of the Arts, consider blogging as part of their day jobs.
Waugh added that his Politics Home site links to "716 other political blogs" – suggesting that for all the teething pains and generational shifts political blogging remains in vigorous health. The emergence of the Daley also indicates that this is an activity that is growing up; as newspapers look more like blog sites – blogs are trying to look more like newspapers.
Britain's top political blog sites
Conservative Home – Described by rivals as the Spectator of political blogs. Firmly established as the premier online forum for serious discussion about Conservative party politics and internal machinations. Now part-funded by Lord Ashcroft to ensure its survival.
Iain Dale– Dale's site still attracts 3,000 to 4,000 visits a day, but the Conservative commentator gave up writing regularly at the end of last year, and only links to his radio show. Dale, though, will launch the Daley, a cross-party "group blog", next month as he aims to write more infrequently.
Guido Fawkes – Britain's most popular political blog, for its take-no-prisoners approach to printing political gossip. Fawkes named Andrew Marr for taking out a "superinjunction" to conceal an affair with a political journalist long before the court order was dropped Right wing, but not Conservative.
Politics Home – Crossparty news site, run by Paul Waugh, one of the few journalists to leave a job at a daily newspaper to become a blogger. Waugh brings a news focus to a site that sits at the nexus of Westminster, the mainstream media, and other blog sites. Also backed by Lord Ashcroft.
Labour List – Under Alex Smith's editorship, Labour List became the closest there is to an official Labour party blog site. Smith went off to work briefly for Ed Miliband, leaving control to Mark Ferguson a Labour activist who keeps the donor-financed site close to the party mainstream.
Labour Uncut – More buccaneering Labour comment and opinion site, with regular postings from a close group of activists. The influential backbench Labour MP Tom Watson is a regular contributor. Not established as a business; writers have paid employment elsewhere.
Left Foot Forward – Serious-minded, "evidence-based" left of centre group blog site. Part intended to be public rebuttal; part intended to be set up as a serious policy site. Funded by a mixture of standing orders, donations, advertising and grass roots appeals, making it more stable than rivals.
Liberal Conspiracy – Left leaning site founded by Sunny Hundal that dates back to 2007 making it one of the oldest left wing group blogs. LC aggregates material from elsewhere, but despite growing traffic, finances remain tight as advertising income remains modest.
Dan Sabbagh