In the comments on my report about Webcameron in London, Tim Ireland — who produced the site for Labour blogger Tom Watson — responds to the claims from Sam Roake, web man for David Cameron. Ireland said that “Cameron’s early broadcasts were very much scripted affairs with a deliberate ‘candid’ setting” and that “the family setting was window dressing.”

I emailed Ireland to ask him why he thought the right was ahead in small TV in Europe and the left in America. He responded, starting with the UK, with four words: “Blair, money, timing and spin.” And then he added a fifth: Iraq.

It was primarily a left-wing affair when political blogging really got going in the UK. But there were obstacles when it came to recruiting MPs and councillors and/or getting support from their parties. Along with the usual fear of the unknown and the overwhelming desire to subvert or control rather than contribute, there was Iraq to deal with. It was a brave Labour MP who allowed comments on their website when a series of Very Big Unanswered Questions were on the loose.

Yes, this might explain why Labor pols in the UK and Republicans in the US are rather camera-shy these days.

Ireland also challenges the format of small TV for politics:

Vlogging provides shallow, easy-answer, image-reliant tosspots with a perfect vehicle to peddle their wares… but someone actually willing to discuss (*gasp*) policy and have the guts to have their views challenged would be far better off with published text. Broadcasting is by definition more of a one-way affair. . .

Well, that depends very much on how it is used. Video can be a medium for conversation, now that it’s small.