Over the weekend, I learned, via @ruskin147’s (that’s Rory Cellan-Jones of the BBC) Twitter feed that the Conservative Party is going to launch it’s own iPhone app. Why, thought I, do they need this? What could be going on in the minds of the political élite?

This kind of worries me. Commentators worry that technology distances us from real human contact with friends, reducing them to a name in a list on Facebook or a stream of 140 character infobursts on Twitter. We also know what Labour and the Conservatives really want to “talk about”. ON other words, they are going to bang on about the economy, crime, education not necessarily because WE want them to, but because their marketing teams feel that these are the ways forward.

And, yes, I said “marketing teams” because this election campaign looks like one that will be fought on image and advertising as much as, of not more than, real proper talking to people. We’ve seen the slick, shiny Tory posters, and no doubt the Labour Party and the Lib Dems will be following up with equally well crafted imagery. The parties will, it seems, be using much the same techniques used by Proctor and Gamble when they want you to buy some toilet paper. And we all know that advertising runs in one direction, yet politics requires a two way discourse. It’s the nature of the thing.

Naturally, Facebook and Twitter will each play a apart in each of the parties’ strategies, but I question whether the nature of these tools will be embraced. No doubt a lot of information will be pushed out, and they will all be “on message” - but will they respond and reply to any “off topic” question? Unlike door to door canvassing where the questons of the day could easily be sidelined by a question from far out in the left field, electronic communications can be filtered, screened and ultimately ignored if the answer would not fit with the core strategy.

So, possibly rather stupidly, I thought I’d test the water a bit. I know that one time Labour Deputy PM John Prescott was a Twitter user, so I posted a question. It was a two-parter as I had more words than Twitter would allow.

So, @johnprescott, will the Labour Party be actively canvassing every constituency this time, or will you have just selected a few?

@johnprescott I ask because the last few elections I just got leaflets. No party is keen on hearing what the voters want to say anymore.

OK - this is a bit loaded - in most elections where I live, I will get a couple of leaflets from the main parties and that’s it. It]s a safe Tory seat, so I guess one of them bother. The main poiint is - will “TwoJags” answer?

Surprisingly, or not, a little while later I got a reply. To get a response from someone pretty high up in any organisation is pretty good going, but from someone who has held the reigns of power, I felt quite pleased.

@hairydalek I've always believed we should fight for EVERY seat not just marginals. Things like this certainly help for direct contact

So, he’s clearly keen to use Twitter and believes that it will be a useful tool for is party. I tried a follow up, just to see if he was paying attentionn.

@johnprescott Do you feel that not so much campaigning and more marketing now? You can “push” your messages but are you open to “off topic”?

A slightly clumsily phrased follow up question. I didn’t get an answer to that (maybe he will reply later). Hopefully he took note of the point.

So, marks to him for bothering to reply. I kind of wondered if I could ask the same kind of questions to another political figure. Through the LibDem’s site, I was able to get hold of Vince Cable’s Twitter name. Same initial question to him.

A week or so later, no replay from him. So clearly the LibDems don’t want to talk via Twitter either, unless is’s “on message”?

I’ll also ask the Tories when I have found a proper person’s Twitter name, not the corporate HQ’s one.