Our values or theirs: the dividing lines

By Alex Smith / alexsmith1982

In the modern age, a political party’s website is its portal. It’s where people can find out what a party stands for and what it believes in – and it’s where a party advertises its policies without mediation.

So I was fascinated last night looking at the difference between the Labour and Tory websites with social media expert Josh Feldberg of JustJuiced. While the Labour front page focuses on schools, public services, development and investment, the language on the Tory website is all about inciting fear.

Check out the word clouds below, which are both fed directly from the two parties’ frontpages without any amendment.

I think the meaning of this is pretty clear. Labour’s focus is on helping people, building “schools” and “world-class” facilities. David Cameron’s Conservatives, on the other hand – with their website’s focus on language such as “violence”, “drink-related” and “police” – play on the fears perpetuated by the right wing press and the Conservative party themselves.

Of course, this is just a snapshot. Website content changes constantly and language is only a small aspect of policy. But it’s interesting – though not altogether surprising – to see quite how policy-lite and fear-heavy the Tory website is.