David Miliband is chuffed by all accounts with the launch of his new, official ODPM blog. As the first UK Minister to launch such a venture many might say he has every reason to be. Yet, earlier this month there were reports of worries in Whitehall when whispers that David might start blogging began to circulate. Concerns were raised that David could publish views that went beyond his ministerial brief.

In fact, David has been blogging internally at the ODMP since January and only yesterday did he open himself up to public perusal.

The move has been warmly welcomed by Bloggers4Labour as well as those who have already posted comments on David’s site. Whilst Bloggerheads have asked everyone to “be nice to the new boy” and Cllr Stuart Bruce is reminded of the time he started blogging in 2003, not all bloggers have put out the welcome mat.

One commentator calling himself Leon wrote: “Without doubt a brave move for a Government Minister but will that constraint mean a lack of character and candor?”. Others, like Guido Fawkes, have been even harsher, complaining that the comments made to posts don’t appear until the next day.

Personally I have issues with the excessive use of lilac but that’s just me. It is good to see that at least one Minister is trying to use blogging to communicate with the unwashed masses and that should be encouraged.

Many of us having been asking for such a move for some time; now that it’s here let’s just hope that his blog can live up to the high standards set by the ODPMs strapline: “Creating sustainable communities”.