How Twitter Caused a Headache for David Cameron
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- Published: Thursday, 13 August 2009 23:31
- Written by Jonathan Walker
I've been chatting to a friend in America who tells me that the evils of our NHS have become a favourite topic among opponents of Barack Obama's healthcare plans.
Tory MEP Daniel Hannan (South East) has made a number of appearances on US television to explain to America why our healthcare system is so bad.
Mr Hannan became something of an internet sensation after his eloquent speech condemning Gordon Brown, in the European Parliament in March, received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube (currently 2.4 million).
Hannan speaks to the European Parliament
Despite this, he doesn't get a great deal of attention in the mainstream media in the UK.
But his comments in the US have nonetheless been highlighted in the UK by users of Twitter.
Hannan speaks to Fox News
The "micro-blogging" tool has been used by supporters of the NHS to defend the health service against the attacks by Mr Obama's critics, using the hash-tag #welovethenhs.
And some of these have also had a dig at the Tories - demanding Conservative leader David Cameron disown Mr Hannan.
Mr Cameron has insisted that he also loves the NHS, and spoken in a positive way about the Twitter campaign, on the official Conservative Party blog.
There was no mention of Mr Hannan, something that has been noted in comments left by the blog's readers.
But Mr Cameron has distanced himself from the MEP's comments elsewhere. It seems that Mr Hannan has become an embarrassment to his party.
And while the mainstream media has picked up on the story, from what I can tell it all began on Twitter.
