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Yet even if websites are geared up for online coverage, our politicians aren't. "They're all gradually moving towards doing things on YouTube, but they're nowhere near where political parties in other countries have got to," says Iain Dale. "I don't think any of the British political parties have really cottoned on to it. The Conservatives sent someone to Washington a few years ago, but I don't think they took up the recommendations."

Freddie Sayers, editor of the newly founded PoliticsHome.com and formerly of now-defunct political broadcasting site 18 Doughty Street, agrees. "I worked for Hillary Clinton in New York and Washington. Even in 2003 to 2004 when I was there, they were more on top of things than UK politicians are now."

So which parties are making good use of the internet? "I don't think any of them are," says Dale, a former Conservative candidate, before loyally adding, "I think David Cameron is probably just ahead." Dale claims his blog (www.iaindale.blogspot.com) gets more hits per day than the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat sites put together. "If I was working for a political party I'd be thinking this is very worrying. You've got to constantly refresh, constantly move on. The Tory website has the same look and structure

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as it did seven years ago."

Craig Elder, the Conservatives' digital communications manager, vehemently disagrees. "We're very much leading the way in terms of interactivity and online video, particularly webcameron, which has been a particular focus since David became leader." He disputes Dale's claim about traffic, and says that Conservatives.com has had "three completely separate designs... in the last two years alone."

The parties might not have polished their online skills, but there are British websites pushing them along. Sayers believes he has the answer with PoliticsHome.com, which will manually aggregate political news and host video interviews. Will the politicians show more enthusiasm than they do for their own sites? "People are very keen. That was our experience at 18 Doughty Street," he says.

Apart from the big three parties, only the Greens, Sinn Fein and Respect are represented on the official YouTube landing site. YouTube's spokesperson says space is offered only to candidates with seats in Westminster or the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies, but that still leaves five parties with no presence, including Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party.

And what about the minority parties, who don't get a look in on the prime-time Party Political Broadcasts? Despite failing to qualify for a spot on the UK Politics site, they remain upbeat about YouTube and online campaigning. Annabelle Fuller, UKIP's press officer, says: "Things in the European Parliament never get coverage. The mainstream media never covers them. We tend to upload lots of videos on YouTube - we don't have the resources of larger parties."