British PM, Gordon Brown, announced an initiative earlier last week which they are calling “Ask the PM“. This will be a regular feature on the 10 Downing Street Youtube channel. The basic premise behind this initiative is to get YouTubers to submit video questions to the PM who then selects the best ones (with his press team I’m sure) and then replies with video responses. I like the fact that the Brown administration are engaging with social media and encouraging participation at a time when younger voters particularly have become apathetic in many parts of the world and I’d like to see more political leaders doing the same.

We have already seen this trend emerge in the U.S. Presidential race, with Democratic hopefuls Obama and Hilton blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, YouTubing etc., and now it really seems to be making its way into mainstream politics. Only time will tell if technology and the web will help make democracy more participatory and governments more accountable.

Wouldn’t that be nice?