Total Politics talks to Labour party activist and blogger Chris Paul about his very own Labour of Love

Who are you?

I’ve been a Labour party member for twenty-seven years and an activist for the last fifteen years or so. I’ve been blogging since 2005 when I did the Labour blog for John Harris in the month to the run-up of the 2005 election and I’ve been blogging in my own way since about 2006. I occasionally stand for local government wards, usually in unwinnable seats.

How would you describe your blog?

It’s kind of scurrilous. It’s an attempt to get underneath the skin of some of the pompous people on the blogs and then parliament and on the local council. I used to do quite a lot of rebutting with Iain and Guido but I don’t bother too much with that any more.

Is your blog part of your activism?

It varies. Mostly I do a kind of wider blogging. The first blog I did was very much a documentation how the campaign was going in 2005. It was a day by day account of what we were up to, where we were missing posters, where the Tories and Lib Dems were active in the area and my day to day life.

The blog seems to be more about criticising the Tories than pro-Labour. Is that intentional?

Yes. I will run posts sometimes analysing Labour positions, being positive about certain things or indeed being negative about certain things. For example, I was very strongly against the war and I did blog and email and campaign about that at the time. Most of the time it consists of attack blogs, trying to find crinkles in the Tories and Lib Dems locally, nationally and also in their friends internationally Reading through your blog it seems to be very evidence based.

You use a lot of links, a lot of videos and transcripts to support your arguments and it seems to be almost journalism rather than blogging. Is that how you see it?

It varies a bit. I did start my working life as a journalist. I set up a magazine called Citylife in Manchester in 1983 - a cross between Private Eye and Time Out — and we used to do investigations and gossip, so I have got that background.

As you said your posts are scurrilous and a bit tongue in cheek. Is it important to you to be humorous throughout? Certainly I attempt to be humorous some of the time. I hope that people can tell when I’m being serious, and when I’m being humorous although occasionally there are sense of humour failures.

Who’s your favourite politician?

Tony Lloyd, my local MP.

Who’s your least favourite politician?

John Leech, who would be my MP after the next election if he holds on to the seat.

Who is your favourite blogger?

I think LabourList is getting on it and finding its feet.

Who would play you in a film of your life?

Christopher Eccleston as there is a local connection there.

If you could change one thing about British politics what would it be?

The ability of politicians to fib and lie without being accountable. I think that it ought to be pulled back.