ADVERTISER editor Glenn Ebrey and Gavin Barwell went head-to-head on national television today over the paper's satirical campaign to persuade the Croydon Central MP to stop launching campaigns.
We launched The Campaign to End All Campaigns last month after Mr Barwell set up five petitions in more than a month.
The article received national media attention, including a page lead in the Independent on Sunday, and today Glenn and Gavin were invited onto the BBC's Daily Politics show to discuss the issue.
Presenter Jo Coburn said Mr Barwell had "got himself into a spot of bother" but asked Mr Ebrey: "Aren't these campaigns your bread and butter?"
Glenn replied: "Absolutely, and we pride ourselves on being a campaigning newspaper. The thing with this was the volume and the timing of the campaigns.
"In the weeks leading to Christmas we noticed that Gavin had developed a habit, maybe even a weekly habit, of launching campaigns.
"There was no doubting the issues behind them but it was interesting how the word 'campaign' was being used on a weekly basis.
"It got to the fifth one in the middle of December and we thought: 'Hang on. It's a marginal seat, six months before an election.' There's obviously a link between the two.
"So we decided to take a tongue-in-cheek approach reflecting the semi-serious issue of it.
"We could have gone down the road of getting an opposition MP or candidate to criticise him, but we decided on a satirical, lighthearted approach."
Turning to Mr Barwell, the presenter said: "Not wanting to be cynical but starting a load of campaigns a few months before a general election in a marginal seat - one might raise an eyebrow."
"I think I am guilty as charged," the politician admitted. "I've been working hard for the four and a half years I've represented the seat."
"But harder now?", the presenter asked.
Mr Barwell said he had run a number of campaigns since being elected in 2010 including supporting Lillian's Law, the Advertiser's campaign to change the law on drug-driving.
"It's a great campaigning paper as Glenn was saying," he explained.
"The Advertiser has said in previous editorials that whether you agree with my views or not you can't doubt my commitment to Croydon.
"The charge is I am working hard to carry on this amazing job I have representing my home town - yes I am."
"That's not the charge," Ms Coburn said. "You're only working hard in the last few months because you are afraid of losing your seat."
Mr Barwell replied: "If that's the charge, it's not true. I've been out campaigning every weekend since I have been an MP."
The presenter went on to describe some of the campaigns, including efforts to save a recycling centre in New Addington, as "spurious" and said Mr Barwell was "raising a straw man" by opposing non-existent plans to build on a green field site at the bottom of Gravel Hill.
Asked whether the campaigns were "made up", Mr Barwell said it was "quite the reverse".
Political commentator Iain Dale, a former Conservative candidate and political blogger, said he "sympathised" with Mr Barwell, who was only doing what you would expect of an MP in a marginal seat, but warned him against going "over the top".
Mr Dale added: "There is a danger for Gavin because I turned a Lib Dem majority of 483 into a Lib Dem majority of 10,600."
Turning to her fellow journalist, presenter Jo Coburn asked: "Have you actually received complaints, Glenn?"
Mr Ebrey replied: "No. I would be lying if I was to say this was an issue that has taken Croydon by storm. There was an element of humour to it, but we also like to keep local politicians on their toes."
