Cloney Blair - We had PM's idea first, says web site

TONY Blair has been accused of copying his latest vote-winning idea from an internet consultancy in Hove.

And his high profile launch of the Labour Party's Big Conversation web site has prompted a flood of visitors - to a firm's web site.

The Prime Minister's new drive to get Britain talking has been called the biggest-ever consultation with voters but the Premier failed to consult Jamie Roy and Liz Sparham who came up with the idea first.

Now their internet site, also called The Big Conversation, is receiving thousands more hits than usual.

New Labour's Big Conversation, launched in a flurry of publicity on Friday, appears to have borrowed its name and concept from Mr Roy and Ms Sparham's internet resarch consultancy Planetary Tribe, based in Brunswick Square, Hove.

The pair set up their Big Conversation more than two years ago and have enjoyed a steady stream of visitors since.

However, traffic to their site has rocketed since the PM launched his own Big Conversation with Britain - a question board with an almost identical web address.

Both sites cover similar topics, including war and peace, education, health, asylum and pensions and offer the public a place to log their opinions.

But unlike Labour's www.bigconversation.org.uk, where contributions are filtered by the party before going on the site, Planetary Tribe's www.thebigconversation.org publishes all comments uncensored.

It also allows visitors to rate other users' comments, providing a guide to the popularity of different ideas and opinions.

Now Mr Roy and Ms Sparham are considering legal action to prevent New Labour from cyber-squatting.

Meanwhile they are getting so many hits on their non-profit making site they are looking for extra help and funding.

New Labour's Big Conversation aims to deliver on the Prime Minister's pledge to keep in touch with the people.

A 77-page document published on Friday lays out the challenges faced by Britain and the Party's future plans, inviting the public to comment on them.

Flanked by Chancellor Gordon Brown and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Mr Blair said the Government was at a "fork in the road".

He said: "This is the time for the Party to take risks."

Groups will travel round the country gaging people's reactions.

On Mr Roy and Ms Sparham's web site, visitors can email their opinions, which are posted on the site to generate debate.

Since Labour's launch, thousands of people have logged on, many ending up on Planetary Tribe's website.

The independent, non-governmental project had 5,000 visits and more than 1,000 contributions over the weekend alone, after internet search engine Google directed people there instead of the Labour site.

Mr Roy, Planetary Tribe's founding director, said "They can't plead ignorance as we recently carried out a big research project for the Department of Health using The Big Conversation web site for 18 months.

"Our web site must have gone through people in Government - someone from the Cabinet office rang up to say how great our work was."

"It could be massive crossed wires - perhaps someone didn't fully check up on the information."

However, he thinks the "mix up" could be positive.

Mr Roy, 32, said: "I reckon there was common ground - we both felt it was a good idea. Some people have poured their hearts out on our web site. There are some great ideas there.

"The Government has inadvertently jump-started the genuine Big Conversation - not the closed email box offered on its own site but the real thing."

The results of the independent web site so far show 90 per cent of people believe the Government project should be an independent initiative, more than 70 per cent think politicians probably will not listen to them and 54 per cent do not feel represented by any political party.

Mr Roy has tried to contact Labour to no avail.

He said: "I've called and sent an email to their site at the weekend saying I was the director of the original big conversation site. On Tuesday I got an automated message back to say my comment was being processed. That isn't a conversation. Perhaps we can work together. I would rather collaborate than get into a legal argument but it would have been better if they had talked to us first."

Lilly Peel © 2003 The Argus