MP's e-mailing Campaign

[Andrew Johnson]

This was "instigated" by Justin - he had written a letter to be e-mailed to ALL MP's.

Justin had started to do this manually and completed the Liberal Democrats. However, as there are almost 700 mps in total, it was going to be difficult to complete it before their summer break. Ian Neal then re-did the letter.

So, I offered to do an e-mail merge and send them personalised messages ("Dear Sir Peter","Dear Mrs Jones" etc). This was finally completed today - without about 550 personally addressed messages going out.

I had worked out that the MP's addresses are surname+intials@parliament.uk, but there must be some exceptions to this, as some addresses didn't work.

I had about 70 failures, 3 REAL responses (1 just saying "thank you") and about 60 auto-responses.

The 2 most "interesting" responses that came back today are below (don't hold your breath)...

Thank you for getting in touch.

Edmund Burke also said, "Your representative owes you, not his industry
only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he
sacrifices it to your opinion".

to which I have responded saying that what Edmund Burke said is quite minor really...!

and this:

Happy to have an inquiry into the war on Iraq but not 9//11.
Regards

Telling stuff, ay?

[karlos]

Sorry mate, i think most emails end up as spam.
The only person who i got a reply from was claire short who said she opposed the war and was a social democrat.

I think visiting them at their surgeries is the only way to have five minutes face to face where they have to listen.
That really is the only sure way to get your views across.

I realise it means all of us physically going to see our local MP but it is
do able. However, the email campaign can still be conducted alongside a letter campaign and a visiting campaign.

[Snowygrouch]

I agree,
Even the ones who are REALLY interested say to me that my emails to them get deletes as SPAM> they actually have to give me code words to put in the "subject" box to make sure they get through!!!!

Hand written letters and visiting surgeries is the ONLY way to go...

Sad....but true.

Still many congrats on instigating any action; but steer clear of emails.

C.

[Andrew Johnson]

Yes - e-mails are not the most effective tool and yes they can be spammed etc

However, the 2 genuine responses above show that some do get through. And this cost precisely nothing.

It's about sending out signals as much as anything else - as you guys both already know from what you have done...

[blackcat]

[xmasdale]

[ian neal]

This is not about the usual opposames of left and right wing politics. It is about finding political representatives of good faith of any party who have a conscience and independent mind to step outside what the party machine tells them to think. Sadly such people are few and far between as demonstrated by the lame debate recently on the need for an inquiry on Iraq, but there are some

I agree there is no substitute to a face-to-face meeting

Here is a link to the letter

http://911truthcampaign.net/mpletter.php

If anyone finds this useful to use in their own attempts to lobby MPs feel free

[mark_e]

Try using write to them

http://www.writetothem.com/?keyword=write%20to%20them&creativeid=49439 6979&gclid=CJ7T2__b64wCFQbklAodUW8Syw

It's very simple, remember there's no point writing to an MP who's outside your area. they might read your letter, but they're not obliged to do anything about it.

I wrote to my MP, my MEps and my local councillor inviting them to our previous William Rodriguez talk

I got back:

MP: couldn't make it due to family commitments, but please keep me updated on this

MEP's: of the six written to, 2 responses. one was thanks for your letter, I can't come.

The other phoned me up and had a 20 minute conversation with me. He is very interested, but was too busy to come along.

Councillor: invited me to his house for a beer and a chat about it. said there was nothing he could do, but wanted to hear more.

The MEP's all received the same letter, so i effectively wrote 3 letters and got 4 responses. I reckon that's a pretty good strike rate.

[rubber_ritchie]

I've found politicians mostly don't reply to emails but they almost always reply to letters.

[Justin]

Most emails won't get through but a few will and it is still worth doing as the letter we sent has many links to prove what we are saying. FYI, here is the link to that excellent letter that Ian Neal wrote:

http://911truthcampaign.net/mpletter.php

[Andrew Johnson]

Excel spreadsheet used for e-mailing:

[xmasdale]

Then wouldn't it be better to send them hard copy letters by snail mail, preferably signed by a constituent of theirs? If we have a standard or model letter, each of us could adapt it to our personal understanding, put our addresses on the top and our signatures at the bottom.

So I'll start the ball rolling. My MP is Culture Secretary, the Rt Hon Tessa Jowell.

Who else will be sending a hard copy to theirs?

We now have supporters in most parts of the country, which means perhaps most MPs would recieve a letter from a constituent about 9/11. We could then do a group mailing to the rest who don't, so far as we know, have a truth campaigner in their constituency.

N