Mass meltdown was triggered by Downing Street last night – in the Westminster village at least – over upcoming changes to ‘lobby’ briefings. These are the twice daily secret briefings given to a select group of political journalists who call themselves ‘the lobby’. No10 is cutting down briefings to one per day, and on some days they’ll be replaced entirely by press conferences…
The lobby, angered by this move, has a justified point that this will limit space for the government to be questioned – and press conferences at which ministers can hand pick friendly outlets for questions is not the same. That said, it’s not like lobby briefings are transparent, given that they are, er, closed to the public and most journalists…
The truth is that the world has changed and government communications – and the lobby – has failed to keep up. There’s no argument for closed shop briefings in today’s world – in fact, the secrecy of the lobby actually undermines public confidence and makes journalists less trusted. Conversely, there’s also no argument for the government’s plan to only pick politically friendly ‘influencers’ or YouTubers because it suits Labour. There is a solution…
Guido today relaunches its old campaign which will be familiar to veteran co-conspirators. Bring the UK into line with comparable Western democracies and simply televise all government media briefings…
Whenever hacks defend the current system, their arguments tend to rest on claims of transparency and accountability: we can ask as many questions as we like – on any topic – and a government spokesman has to respond. There is no reason this would be undermined by sticking a camera in the room. Indeed, the President of the United States manages to take televised press pack questions even on Air Force One. All that changes is the public would be able to sniff out any spin or distortion for themselves. The hacks are no longer the gatekeepers of the news agenda…
It has worked in the US for years, and it would work here. If a government spokesman wants to spew out some guff, let the public see it in real time. Any hack who argues it is their job to synthesise the briefings for the benefit of their audience must think their readers or viewers are fools. Let’s just cut out the middleman. Nothing is stopping journalists from writing long-winded analyses after the (live) briefing is over, anyway. It is time to drag the whole thing, kicking and screaming, into the twenty-first century. A system of public, televised briefings, along with a normal pattern of ministerial press conferences and speeches with questions would restore some trust in spinners and hacks alike. In the meantime, while the lobby and the government shout at each other, the public are taking their attention elsewhere…
Downing Street has been busy scrubbing articles from the page of the Prime Minister’s Office. The most prominent of which was titled “What does the Employment Rights Bill mean for you?”…
That article advertises at the top of its page:
“Basic rights from day one
We’re putting in place measures to give employees basic rights from their first day in a new job.
Our new Bill will give greater protection against unfair dismissal from day one, ensuring that the feeling of security at work is no longer a luxury for the privileged few.”
The bill has now of course been gutted. Sad times for Rayner…
Downing Street’s clean-up of its website has taken place since 23 November, as Budget week began. The page was basically stale, having uploaded no new main stories on its landing page for many months. Analysis from Web Archive shows activity on the site dropped markedly from Spring this year onwards…
Only the plan for change from last December remains as a main article on the page. A convenient clean-up…
An interesting media strategy from No10 as it demands footage of Starmer tripping over at the G20 is taken down. Taken by a regular broadcast cameraman…
Downing Street is upset that the footage went to broadcast and is asking for it to be taken down/not shown again. This is the video in question:
And again:
It’s not North Korea yet lads…
Nearly half of all Labour voters want Starmer to leave Downing Street before the next general election, according to new YouGov polling in the Times. Just wait until they see next week’s Winter Budget…
The survey, conducted last week, found that 23 percent of Labour voters want Starmer to resign immediately, with another 22 percent saying he should throw in the towel before the next election. Only 34% think he should even bother leading Labour into that election, whenever it is…
At the time of going to pixel, Morgan McSweeney still has a job. But yesterday Starmer gave him the ‘full confidence’ kiss of death, and today all fingers point towards Morgan for starting the anti-Streeting briefing war. So Guido is just doing the Prime Minister a favour by getting this out of the way early…
Tim Allan – The ringleader of the anti-Morgan cabal and currently No10’s Executive Director of Communications. Could Allan take Downing Street to infinity and beyond?
Tom Baldwin – Starmer’s Hagiographer. Said to be hungry for a comms job in No10, with the likes of Alastair Campbell thought to be lobbying for him. Known for writing the Observer puff piece which blew up Starmer’s messaging on immigration…
Jill Cuthbertson – Currently Morgan’s loyal deputy. Spent three years working for Starmer as Director of LOTO’s Office. Previously worked for Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband. So if Starmer also falls, she could stay in post for the Miliband administration…
Ben Nunn – Rachel Reeves’ new Chief of Staff. Would be a big promotion but is said to be ambitious…
Darren Jones – Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister. Would save on the wage bill if they folded the role into his current remit…
Alastair Campbell – Podcaster and Twitter addict. Spent today screaming about Robbie Gibb and the BBC, so clearly needs a new hobby. Back to Number 10 to atone for last time?
The News Agents – Why not? It would make little difference to their output. Although it may make Sopel’s return to Bluesky even less likely…
Emilio Casalicchio – Playbook PM author. Produces material for the morning Playbook’s ‘mea culpa’ section…
Others can still throw their hat in the ring, but time is clearly short. Refresh those CVs now – don’t worry too much about Starmer checking them closely…
Downing Street is continuing to spin over the appointment of David Kogan as chair of the football regulator. At today’s Lobby briefing the Number 10 spokesman insisted the PM had been “transparent” in writing to ethics adviser Laurie Magnus last night, despite taking several months to fess up to rubber-stamping Kogan’s appointment. Earlier this week Number 10 was still insisting it was a matter for DCMS. Asked if the Prime Minister had simply forgotten he was supposed to recuse himself from matters relating to football, the No10 spokesman said hacks should refer to Starmer’s letter…
The spokesman could not explain why it has taken this long for Starmer to apologise for the breach because the answer would be too embarrassing: it was Guido’s revelation on Monday that the PM a) is actually recused from football matters and b) accidentally signed off on the appointment. D’oh…
Starmer called the sign-off an “unfortunate error” in his letter, which is obviously not quite the same thing as confessing to a lapse in memory. There is now an ‘internal review’ underway to examine ‘how recusals are managed’. Whether that involves giving the Prime Minister a memory exam is an open question. In any case, Starmer still has total confidence of Kogan, and is certain he did not break the ministerial code. Play on…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”