Politics will never be the same again, says Prescott

Labour blogger David Prescott has claimed that last week saw 'the first successful domestic Twitter campaign to push an issue into the mainstream'.

Prescott, MD of digital PR agency Game Changer, was speaking about widespread use of the welovethenhs 'hashtag' by Twitter users, and the ensuing media coverage.

'It is fair to say politics will never be the same again,' said Prescott. 'Twitter is now just as important at setting the news agenda as Sky News or the Press Association.'

Prescott also told how his father, former deputy prime minister John Prescott, used the #welovethenhs campaign to highlight Tory MEP Daniel Hannan's criticism of the NHS on US TV: 'We informed John about the hashtag, and he suggested tweeting links to Hannan's Fox News clips running down the NHS,' said David Prescott.

'John had been blogging on Hanann's comments since April, but failed to get mainstream media to pick it up.'

Prescott then began tweeting about Hannan's US TV appearances, in a concerted effort to embarrass Tory leader David Cameron. The story was soon picked up by Sky News.

'Introducing Hannan's comments diverted the anger from right-wing Americans to a right-wing British politician,' said Prescott.

This article was first published on PR Week UK