Top 100 Tweeting MPs 2014-15

Parliament is pretty much done. The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition consciously uncouples, Members of Parliament relinquish their titles, special advisers and constituency bag carriers return to 'normal people' mode, and the parliamentary estate itself goes into snooze mode. As we stand on the brink of this longest of long election campaigns 'officially' launching there are two questions on politics watchers lips. One, who's going to win this blasted thing? And two, which 100 MPs end this Parliament with the largest Twitter followings? I can't help with the former, though I have my opinions. But the latter? Abso-freaking-lutely.

Here then is the list you never wanted but cannot live without. A few observations first before a little bit of analysis at the end. To start off with, this list is not about quality. This is not a compilation of which MP is better at the Twitter than others. It is simple rank ordering by follower size. The more follows a MP has, the further up the list they are. Stating the obvious there, but unbelievably it's something I get asked every year when the commentators' and bloggers' lists appear. Secondly, these totals were true as of yesterday. Thirdly, where there are ties between MPs with the same number of followers, those who started their Twitter account most recently are ranked higher. The logic here is they've taken less time to accrue those followers. It used to be much easier when Twitter still published the proper totals. Fourth, MPs are now in the business of becoming ex-MPs. That title will be removed from Twitter feeds over the coming days as profiles are updated. So it might just be the case that some of the links below will quickly become broken - let me know and I will fix them. And lastly, our pluses and minuses here pertain to the previous list of Tweeting MPs from summer 2013. Just so there is no confusion.

Without further ado:

1. (><) David Cameron - 942k (Con)
2. (><) Ed Miliband - 391k (Lab)
3. (><) William Hague - 265k (Con)
4. (><) George Galloway - 238k (Respect)
5. (+1) Nick Clegg - 216k (LibDem)
6. (-1) Tom Watson - 164k (Lab)
7. (><) Ed Balls - 163k (Lab)
8. (+1) Caroline Lucas - 117k (Green)
9. (+2) George Osborne - 110k (Con)
10. (><) Chuka Umunna - 95.5k (Lab)
11. (-3) Grant Shapps - 84.1k (Con)
12. (><) Diane Abbott - 77.5k(Lab)
13. (><) Harriet Harman - 74.6k (Lab)
14. (><) Andy Burnham - 65k (Lab)
15. (><) Jeremy Hunt - 64.5k (Con)
16. (><) Vince Cable - 60.8k (LibDem)
17. (><) Yvette Cooper - 55.6k (Lab)
18. (+2) Stella Creasy - 53.6k (Lab)
19. (+6) Sadiq Khan - 44.5k (Lab)
20. (+6) Rachel Reeves - 42.2k (Lab)
21. (><) Zac Goldsmith - 40.8k (Con)
22. (-4) Eric Pickles - 40.5k (Con)
23. (-1) Douglas Alexander - 38.8k (Lab)
24. (-5) Chris Bryant - 37.7k (Lab)
25. (-1) David Lammy - 36k (Lab)
26. (+1) Luciana Berger - 35.2k (Lab)
27. (+25) John Penrose - 34.7k (Con)
28. (+13) Jim Murphy - 34.4k (Lab)
29. (+6) Gordon Brown - 32.4k (Lab)
30. (-1) Caroline Flint - 31.2k (Lab)
31. (+22) Tristram Hunt - 30.9k (Lab)
32. (+4) Tessa Jowell - 29.6k (Lab)
33. (+9) Douglas Carswell - 29.2k (UKIP)
34. (+4) Gloria De Piero - 28.5k (Lab)
35. (-12) Nadine Dorries - 27.3k (Con)
36. (+117) Nicky Morgan - 26.4k (Con)
37. (-9) Ben Bradshaw - 26.2k (Lab)
38. (-6) Ed Vaizey - 25.7k (Con)
39. (-2) Jeremy Corbyn - 25.1k (Lab)
40. (-6) Tim Farron - 24.9k (LibDem)
41. (-2) Danny Alexander - 24.8k (LibDem)
42. (-11) Stephen Twigg - 22.9k (Lab)
43. (-13) Kerry McCarthy - 22.7k (Lab)
44. (+1) Liz Kendall - 22.4k (Lab)
45. (+50) Justine Greening - 21.8k (Con)
46. (+1) Rory Stewart - 21k (Con)
47. (-7) Liam Byrne - 20.2k (Lab)
48. (+15) Dan Jarvis - 19.9k (Lab)
49. (-5) Lynne Featherstone - 19.6k (LibDem)
50. (-1) Greg Barker - 19.5k (Con)
51. (+13) Sarah Wollaston - 19.2k (Con)
52. (+7) Matthew Hancock - 19.1k (Con)
53. (+1) Michael Fabricant - 19k (Con)
54. (+11) Hilary Benn - 18.8k (Lab)
55. (+3) Margaret Hodge - 18.2k (Lab)
56. (-8) Jo Swinson - 18.2k (LibDem)
57. (-6) John McDonnell - 18.1k (Lab)
58. (-12) Charles Kennedy - 17.9k (LibDem)
59. (+1) Steve Reed - 17.6k (Lab)
60. (+19) Elizabeth Truss - 17.3k (Con)
61. (-5) Julian Huppert - 17.3k (LibDem)
62. (+15) Esther McVey - 17.1k (Con)
63. (+63) Mark Reckless - 16.5k (UKIP)
64. (+25) Norman Lamb - 16.2k (LibDem)
65. (+5) Michael Dugher - 16.1k (Lab)
66. (-11) Jamie Reed - 16k (Lab)
67. (+7) Emily Thornberry - 16k (Lab)
68. (+38) Angus Robertson - 15.9k (SNP)
69. (-19) Peter Hain - 15.6k (Lab)
70. (+10) Mary Creagh - 15.3k (Lab)
71. (+5) Lisa Nandy - 15.2k (Lab)
72. (+1) Kate Green - 14.9k (Lab)
73. (-16) Jesse Norman - 14.9k (Con)
74. (-6) Jonathan Reynolds - 14.9k (Lab)
75. (-8) Alison McGovern - 14.6k (Lab)
76. (+11) Maria Eagle - 14.5k (Lab)
77. (+4) Toby Perkins - 14.3k (Lab)
78. (-9) John Woodcock - 14.1k (Lab)
79. (-7) Tom Brake - 14k (LibDem)
80. (+6) Debbie Abrahams - 13.7k (Lab)
81. (+39) Brandon Lewis - 13.7k (Con)
82. (+9) Angela Eagle - 13.6k (Lab)
83. (-1) Robert Halfon - 13.6k (Con)
84. (><) Andy Slaughter - 13.5k (Lab)
85. (-7) Andrew Gwynne - 13.4k (Lab)
86. (+15) Lucy Powell - 13.4k (Lab)
87. (+155) Penny Mordaunt - 13.3k (Con)
88. (+14) Jonathan Ashworth - 13.1k (Lab)
89. (+115) Anas Sarwar - 12.9k (Lab)
90. (-15) Greg Mulholland - 12.9k (LibDem)
91. (+170) Simon Danczuk - 12.7k (Lab)
92. (-20) Kevin Brennan - 12.7k (Lab)
93. (+10) Karl Turner - 12.6k (Lab)
94. (+15) Emma Reynolds - 12.6k (Lab)
95. (+50) Margaret Curran - 12.5K (Lab)
96. (+2) Jon Cruddas - 12.3k (Lab)
97. (+74) Nick Hurd - 12.3k (Con)
98. (+2) Nadim Zahawi - 12.3k (Con)
99. (-14) Diana Johnson - 12.2k (Lab)
100. (+12) Grahame Morris - 12.2k (Lab)

Any surprises? Not really. The PM and Leader of the Opposition are up top, and the more senior the figure the more likely they are to inhabit the upper echelons. The stand out exceptions being George Galloway and Caroline Lucas who, for a variety of reasons, command attention greater than their 'official' standing. It's also gratifying, speaking as a Labour drone, to see Twitter resolve some notable grudge matches in our party's favour. Notably Burnham/Hunt, and Balls/Osborne.

Twitter, it is oft noted, is a medium that favours the left. It calling last night's Paxo/Burley interviews for Ed Miliband while the ICM/Graun snap poll plumped for Dave is a case in point. Does this list bare the supposition out? 59 MPs here are from the Labour Party. Add in the Greens, SNP, and Respect that's 62% for the left of centre. So, yes. Only 25 hail from the Conservatives. Plus UKIP's twosome the right finish Parliament with just 27 of the top 100 spaces. As for the poor old Liberal Democrats, they have just 11 MPs to brag about.

Obviously, there's a great deal of overlapping following going on, but a simple totting up by party yields these numbers: Conservative 1.895m, Labour 2.168m, and LibDem 417,800. Much closer when set out like that, but considering Dave's Twitter count alone counts for 49.7% of the Tory total (whereas Ed's is 18% of Labour's), followers are much more evenly spread among its MPs. To make a naff point, what do you expect from the only mainstream political party pledged to do something about inequality?

What else does the list tell us? 33 MPs in the top 100 are women, which is well above the composition of Parliament as a whole. Between them they account for a simple total of 938,800, or 19.5% of the pool of followers. Overrepresented on one measure, underrepresented on another. How about BME MPs? I make just seven MPs. A small number, yes, but sightly above the proportions in the House of Commons as a whole.

Obviously, a lot of the MPs on this list are about to become permanent ex-MPs, so next time I do this, which will be the end of the 2015-16 Parliament in summer next year, expect there to be a great many new entries. It will also be interesting to see if movement on the chart corresponds to media profile and responsibilities. This list at first glance suggests it might. It will also be interesting to see that if indeed the government does change whether more Tories shall appear as they settle into opposition mode. I suspect not, but we shall see.