The media league table: how did the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet do?

Posted by Mark Pack at Fri, 25/09/2009 - 1:11pm in Political commentary

The power and importance of MPs is a factor not only of the posts they hold and their behind-the-scenes influence but also their media savvy. So how did the members of the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet do during their conference week at gathering media coverage?  Mandate has crunched the numbers, looking at coverage secured in the print media and their online versions over the Lib Dem conference, and here are the top 15 in order of volume of coverage:  

1. Nick Clegg
2. Vince Cable
3. Chris Huhne
4. Steve Webb
5. Danny Alexander
6. Edward Davey
7. Sarah Teather
8. Tim Farron
9. Julia Goldsworthy
10. Alistair Carmichael
11. Norman Baker
12. David Laws
13. Lynne Featherstone
14. David Howarth
15. Norman Lamb

There are no surprises in the top three, except perhaps that Nick Clegg secured the top slot by a wide margin over Vince Cable. Norman Baker, normally a star coverage getter, had a fairly quiet week whilst David Howarth, usually quiet on the media front, had a particularly good week. The other 'surprise' entry in the list is for Alistair Carmichael, whilst notably missing from the list is Simon Hughes - never normally one to knowingly walk by a journalist without offering a quote.

Tagged with: Party Conferences, Liberal Democrats