On Friday night, Brian Paddick became the first British politician to use UStream.TV for a live question and answer session, broadcast over the internet. The 60 minute session was hosted by Susan Kramer, Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park.

Taking into account viewers at the time and since, it garnered approaching 1,000 viewers, with the number continuing to go up as the event can still be watched again via the UStream website. There was also a moderately lively chat channel up and running during the event, which saw extra questions being posed and discussions spinning off from Brian’s answers. A few quick photos of the event are also available on Flickr (here, here and here).

UStream’s technology makes it relatively easy to broadcast an event live on the internet. You need a decent camera, mic and internet connection, but beyond that there’s no cost involved and their software is fairly straight-forward. It certainly opens up a whole new potential area of activity as live internet broadcasting is no longer the preserve of those with significant budgets.