In politics, astroturfing is secretly organising a fake grassroots campaign. Instead of real grass and real roots you have astroturf.
In its sporting context, astroturf (and its successors) are great. In politics, it is deceptive.
Full council last week had a relatively rare example of residents using their right to get an answer directly from the Executive Member over an issue of concern – i.e. the discrepancy between what the government had said would happen to VAT on the hire of football pitches and what WBC was actually doing.
It is, of course, a spectacularly inefficient way for the Borough to answer a basic question but having been let down by the Council the residents did absolutely the right thing and escalated the issue.
And it was definitely a grassroots concern.
Of the other six questions from the ‘public’, one came from Paul Stephens, an Independent candidate in the 2023 Borough elections and parish councillor, one from Moses Iyengunmwena, a Conservative town councillor and candidate in the 2023 Borough elections, one from Guy Grandison, a former Conservative Borough councillor and one from Jim Frewin, a former Independent councillor and candidate in 2003.
Just two of the six were from residents with no obvious public political affiliation.
Needless to say, the ‘political’ questions were as predictable as were the answers.
The issue of VAT rebates for the hire of real pitches and the good use this made of the Council’s time stood in stark contrast to the political questions which were just political campaigning.
Don’t get me wrong, I have done exactly the same.
Almost no one pays any attention to what happens in Council. But the questions do get reported by the press with the lack of any political context. The effect is, that reporting what appears to be a concerned resident is just reporting on an organised political campaign – astroturfing.
One of the mildly amusing things about the letters page of this paper is the number of occasions letters appear from seemingly concerned members of the public concerning issues of the day. What is remarkable is how many of these letters appear from current or past councillors and candidates.
Now, not every member of the public should have their past allegiance hung around their neck like a millstone, and allegiances do change, but more often than not they do provide an insight into where the person may be coming from.
In recent months, and in no particular order, we have seen Daniel Hinton (a former Conservative councillor) attacking Lib Dem leader Ed Davey over his role in the Post Office scandal, Adrian Betteridge (a current Lib Dem councillor) dismissing attacks on Ed Davey, as well as contributions from Peter Lucey (a former Conservative and Independent councillor) weighing in on climate change scepticism, Victor Rones (a Green Party candidate in 2023 ) on an eclectic range of issues and Lou Timlin (former Women’s Equality Party candidate in 2023 and now LibDem councillor) congratulating the LibDem Borough Council.
A few years ago there were even a series of particularly nasty letters aimed at a LibDem councillor from someone who shared the same name as a former Conservative councillor.
In none of these instances were the political backgrounds of the letter writers clear to the reader – but they had all either held office or sought to hold office on behalf of a political party.
My list does not include people who clearly state their office or party – as these labels add transparency and give the reader a sense of where the writer is coming from.
In the letters page – as elsewhere – I guess “buyer beware” is a good rule of thumb. It is fine to be genuinely upset with a party or their policies. But as with the unwanted offers to turf your front garden, one should also beware of the astroturfers.
Cllr Andy Croy is the leader of the Labour group on Wokingham Borough Council and ward member for Bulmershe and Whitegates
