I've decided that there is no point in continuing with the Lewis Moonie blog. For a start, he isn't going to be an MP for very much longer. There's never any news on Lewis Moonie floating about. And this area is so unquestioning of Labour.

I've achieved little in the real world. But I think I've made a good attempt at making Lewis Moonie that little bit more accessible. Up-to-date contact information is murder to find, but I've got it all here - along with links to his page on They Work For You and Public Whip, so I won't tear this blog right down. Archive posts, if you really want them, are still available aswell.

I may well return to the proxy blogging scene when Gordon Brown comes along. So keep an eye on the Gordon Brown proxy blog - I'll be building it up as the General Election campaign gets into full swing.

There are some really exciting developments with these proxy blogs. I wish all of them the best of luck. Links to all of them will remain on the right-hand panel of this blog.

Remember to keep on checking out Bloggerheads - the inspiration for this and most other proxy blogs.
Why politicians need weblogs
Blog your MP

This blog is now part of a new UK political blogs aggregator. It features all the best political blogging around, and also has a section dedicated to all of the proxy blogs, like this, which are cropping up all over the place now.

A bit of Lewis Moonie related news from PA News.

Over 800 members of the Army are planning legal action against the Ministry of Defence.

The problem is over the issue of a procedure known as 'Manning Control', whereby soldiers' careers can be ended after eleven years of their planned 22-year-long service. This significantly reduces the value soldiers' pensions.

The procedure is supposed to be there to ensure that the Army doesn't get filled with older personnel who are no longer fit enough to perform to remain in the Army. Some have other ideas though.

An unnamed serving soldier this evening told Channel 4 News he believed the Army was forcing servicemen to “jump before they are pushed” in a bid to save money.

Furthermore, the MOD was apparently aware that Manning Control was "open to challenge under employment rights law". So obviously it's quite a controversial issue.

When he was Defence Secretary, in June 2003, Lewis Moonie told Parliament

there are no plans to conduct any Manning Control Point reviews in the next 12 months.

However, according to PA, this was infact not the case:

...a document obtained by the programme indicated that three weeks later 3 Para was sent a list of soldiers approaching their 12-year Manning Control review point.

If you read the whole article, it seems apparent that Manning Control is still a common occurance in the Army. So did Lewis Moonie knowingly lie to Parliament?

Here's the Lib Dem line:

(These are) the most loyal group of people this country has – people who are prepared to lay down their lives in the service of the Crown and the service of this country.

If some of them are so disgusted by the way that they have been treated and the way their comrades have been treated that they are prepared to take legal action against the Government, then that really says there is a problem.

The small but steadily growing clump of 'proxy' blogs for MPs is beginning to have some success.

The success of the Alan Milburn blog is quite astounding. Milburn's constituency workers seem interested in blogging, and visitors arrive at the blog by the shedload. I think it's probably fair to say that Milburn is the most high profile of all the MPs who have 'proxy' blogs now, and it's great news that he himself is showing interest.

Meanwhile, Bloggerheads is reporting similar progress with Sarah Teather.

There have also been new blogs for Frank Dobson and Keith Vaz introduced today - they've been added to the side-panel along with all the other proxy blogs.

Back to getting the MPs blogging, though. Nick Raynsford also seems interested in blogging. But there are some doubts.

So who can get away with not blogging? Or have an excuse for not blogging? Starting from the top:

Prime Minister - I think I would rather he ran the country, if you don't mind. There are already many sources of information regarding the PM's activities. And there is no way he could personally blog - too busy, too careful, too risk averse, doesn't need name recognition or to build a profile, too much of a target for nuts, etc, etc.

Cabinet Ministers - A lot of the same reasons as above arguing against blogging; but to a lesser degree. However, they (and the PM) are surrounded by a massive bureaucracy which shields them from what, "The People" really think. But they need that shield to function. Too large an audience for blogging to work? Just a thought.

Junior Ministers - Such as Nick Raynsford. I'm not sure. I'm really not. Very busy and all.

A good point, and it's something that I've had a wee think about aswell. I'm not going to try to get Lewis Moonie blogging. He's not going to be an MP after the next General Election. Instead, we'll be getting Gordon Brown. And is there much hope of getting Gordon Brown blogging? As James said, I'd rather Brown looked after the economy if I was being honest. Still, getting a constituency worker to blog on constituency issues on his behalf? It's not half as cool as getting an MP blogging - but it's better than nothing, eh?

What do you think? Should there be a Brownblog?