The best MPs on Twitter: One – Jamie Reed
One: Jamie Reed
25/30
Entertaining 9
Informative 8
Engaging with constituents 4
Regularity 4
The most impressive thing about Reed is that he manages to be this mischievous while holding down a frontbench position. The shadow health minister has every right to churn out the same endless party political platitudes and naff observations as every other front bencher, but he somehow manages to turn his account into something genuinely funny and cocksure. "You're not cut out for this. To be honest, you're rubbish at it. Cut your losses and delete the account," he told a Tory health account recently. Another user was treated to this: "Yeah. One of these is true. A) Snowden rang me B) I clicked on your link C) You're Che Guevara…" And then: "Middle son finally found his lost Lego Yoda. Everyone's happy. We sit, braced, anticipating Dave's involvement." It is to Reed's considerable credit that he has not allowed his shadow ministerial role to stifle his personality. He also makes good use of Twitter to mock his political opponents – particularly Jeremy Hunt, who gets a pretty tough ride – and he does so more effectively than most of his colleagues. Every so often the tweets are serious, but Reed wisely leaves most of that business to the Commons chamber. Instead, Twitter is used as a separate front, where its jokey informality allows him a new avenue of attack. In the world of politics, mockery can be more effective than a judge-led inquiry, so it's pleasing to see a serious politician recognise the avenues which Twitter opens up to those engaged in the daily rough-and-tumble. This account is proof positive that reaching the upper levels of politics does not necessarily mean you are a robot.
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