Labour Steps Into The Virtual World

13 Jan 2009 at 15:46:21 by Andy Alderson

The British Labour Party has taken its first steps into cyberspace, creating an avatar of Peter Mandelson in Second Life.

According to the Daily Mail, the (oft-disgraced) Business Secretary's presence in the game is designed to drum up online opposition to the Conservative Party.

Mandelson's appearance in the game coincides with the launch of the new Labourlist.org website. As part of Labour's preparations for a general election, the website will feature contributions from spin doctors Alastair Campbell and Charlie Whelan, ministers Ed Miliband and Hazel Blears and ex-tabloid editor Piers Morgan.

According to the Mail, the creation of a virtual Mandelson will fuel speculation that he is to be the lynchpin of Prime Minister Brown's electoral campaign team.

The Conservative Party has spearheaded online campaigning for the past few years, launching sites like WebCameron.org.uk which offers video clips of the oppostion leader's homelife. Labour has been criticised for failing to establish an online presence and the Mail believes this is due to the party's "refusal to tolerate dissent or criticism - a key requirement for success in the freeflowing world of the Internet."

Mandelson himself reiterated the Labour Party's changing attitude to the net on the Labourlist website:

"[W]hen it comes to new media we have to recognise that the days of command and control are over", he said.

"Instead we need to learn to embrace and engage."

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