David Miliband To Turn Mandarins Into Bloggers

It is understood that the blog, currently due to launch by the end of 2007, will break new ground in having a "corporate" feel, with personal entries submitted by Miliband and Foreign Office Ministers with their responses to and interpretations of current events and policy issues.

It will also include reports from top Foreign Office civil servants, not to express their personal views but to explain the day to day running of the department. It is hoped that together these will offer the public new insights into the policy process at work, according to sources close to Downing Street.

Miliband has already pioneered the use of the blog in government, becoming the first UK Cabinet minister to blog while at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Department of Communities and Local Government. The new blog is expected to make far greater use of multimedia, especially video clips. It will include online forms enabling the public to submit their own comments.

The news comes as Headstar launches its third annual e-democracy event, e-Democracy '07, due to be held in central London on 8 November. Politician blogging is among the topics to be discussed at the event this year: others include electronic petitioning and electronic voting. For more info see:

www.headstar-events.com/edemocracy07