It has now been confirmed that Downing Street’s televised press briefings fronted by Allegra Stratton are to launch on January 11th, confirming what Guido revealed a month ago that the Lobby would have to wait until the start of the year thanks to the revamp of No. 9 Downing Street taking longer than expected to get it match fit for live briefings. Contrary to the current five-day-a-week Lobby schedule, the briefings with Allegra will only take place on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Seems the anti-transparency cartel will continue to get their way post-PMQs…
Yet more changes in the way that Downing Street handles the media were announced today ahead of televised briefings beginning in the new year. Following PMQs Allegra Stratton, in a joint briefing with No. 10’s new Head of Press, Jamie Davies, announced that she will speak to hacks on the record, changing the tradition of Lobby briefings by the PM’s Press Secretary coming from an anonymous “Downing Street spokesman”. The Press Secretary is not to be confused with the Prime Minister’s Spokesman, who has been on the record since Blair’s time.
The implication of all this is that there will be no off the record negative briefings from the main Downing Street officials who brief the media. This will be quite an innovation.
In another sign of the end to the previous regime’s attitude to the Lobby, Stratton told the gathered journos “The media has had a very good and powerful role during the pandemic so far”. Polling would beg to differ…
Guido understands the Lobby can now officially breathe a sigh of relief, they will have until next year to brace for the introduction of Allegra Stratton’s televised afternoon briefings, which will hopefully be the beginning of the end for the ink-stained Westminster press cartel. The fancy new broadcasting room renovation won’t be ready until January…
Guido recently stumbled across a very relevant bit of lobby history from 1950, in an old obituary of the BBC’s first Parliamentary Correspondent. It shows the Lobby, while they will inevitably kick up a storm when the change comes in from January, have invariably been opposed to reform, though eventually they come round to it.
Following the reconstruction of the House of Commons after the Blitz, the BBC sent their first Westminster correspondent, ER Thompson, to report from the new Commons gallery. Thompson was shocked to experience “craft resistance” from fellow journalists, who did not appreciate the public learning about debates so early before papers went to print. The Lobby even called an emergency resolution* meeting upon discovering Thompson and his colleague had been allocated seats in the front row. At one point even the BBC were insurgent outsiders for the Lobby cartel…
When he retired from the BBC, aged 60, Thompson was recruited by ITV to manage the first two experiments in broadcasting the proceedings of Parliament. Guido suspects he’d enjoy the digital reporting of politics.
The Lobby cartel’s objection to rival media outlets sharing news before they were able to publish continued all the way through to 2020, when Guido followed in ER Thompson’s footsteps by live-tweeting No. 10’s press briefings before the club’s self-imposed embargo was lifted; despite outrage and intimidation, the Lobby again got used to change. Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis.
The obituary of the one man who covered Parliament for the BBC during Clement Attlee’s administration is well worth a read. The same task is now carried out by some 120 Beeboid clones.
*Guido has also been the subject of an emergency resolution, for turning up improperly dressed to a Lobby lunch. The inflated self-importance of Lobby hacks is only equalled by MPs.
As Guido has discussed for weeks, Number 10 are seeking an “experienced broadcaster” to front its daily Downing Street briefings, a UK version of the highly visible US White House Press Secretaries. This morning the Telegraph revealed the job advert and its £100,000 salary. Guido brings you the runners and riders…
- Allegra Stratton
- Four years apiece as national editor of ITV News and political editor of BBC Newsnight. Currently Rishi Sunak’s Director of Strategic Communications and married to James Forsyth, political editor of The Spectator. Safe hire, bonus points for gender.
- Julie Etchingham
- Presenter and reporter for ITV News at Ten, ITV Tonight & Exposure. Received praise over her moderation of ITV’s 2019 election debate – although Number 10 was not happy with the number of times she interrupted Boris…
- Angus Walker
- Former ITV News Correspondent. Currently an education SpAd. A loyal choice…
- Guto Harri
- Former Communications Director to Boris when he was mayor. Background of 18 years as a journalist at the BBC. Is he still trusted by Boris?
- Tom Bradby
- Knows the Lobby well as former political editor for ITV News for ten years. Currently presents ITV News at Ten so is used to the spotlight. Might find it hard to reconcile views to the job…
- Jane Hill
- One of the best-known faces on BBC News. Once worked at the US Democratic Party’s National Headquarters in Washington, for Senate Democrats. Useful to reach out to the Lobby…
- Dermot Murnaghan
- Has worked for the BBC, ITN, Channel 4, and Sky News. Would be able to deftly deal with broadcasters. Anchored Sky’s election results in programme 2019.
- Iain Dale
- Experienced broadcaster with the quick-wittedness needed for the role. Former Tory candidate who worked for David Davis’ leadership campaign. Although Dale has often cited how he has voted for four different parties in recent years…
- Niall Paterson
- Has the experience. Being Scottish is a bonus…
- Tom Newton-Dunn
- Said to be keen. Not a chance.
Our own ‘Tom Off the Telly’ still insists he doesn’t want the job. Place your bets here…
Guido has won a big victory against the Lobby today, breaking open the Lobby’s preferred closed-style of briefings from Downing Street. The Government will televise the afternoon briefing sessions with journalists from No. 9:
“Afternoon Lobby sessions with journalists will be televised from Downing Street. Officials have also been told of plans to dramatically reduce the government’s communications operation
Boris Johnson has clearly listened to the argument for “a culture of transparency and openness’’ in Westminster by backing the broadcasting of the afternoon press briefings and reducing the number of spin doctors across Whitehall. After the success of the televised Covid briefings, Lee Cain plans to continue the on-camera afternoon government briefings. The role will be filled by a political appointee…
Expect an experienced broadcaster to get the job. No 9 Downing Street – where off-camera press briefings are currently held – will be turned into a modern media studio for briefings. A Downing Street source says: “For too long we’ve been running an analogue system in a digital age. People want to hear directly what the government is doing and to see it being held to account…”
The whole of government communications is being overhauled by Alex Aiken, the Executive Director for Government Communications – it will see departments ordered to reduce the 4,000 spin doctors employed by the government. Aiken and Cain believe the changes will lead to smaller, more agile communications operation. Officials have also been told of plans to plans to drastically reduce the government’s communications operation and the number of press officers across Whitehall. Guido’s happy that a decade-long campaign for government briefings unfiltered by Lobby journalists has finally been won…
See Guido’s case for televising the briefings: Live Stream the ‘People’s Briefings’ from Downing Street
Another daily briefing, another attempt by the Lobby’s titans last night to keep the flame of the Cummings saga alive. At the Downing Street briefing they tried to drag boffins Sir Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty into the row by asking them questions about Dominic Cummings. Boris demurred from allowing such questions. Outraged tweets garnered tens of thousands of shares…
Following the third attempt by Sam Coates – after Kuenssberg and Peston had a go – the boffins gave the Lobby’s finest a basic schooling in Civil Service conventions. Truth twisting tweets that there was a gagging order from Boris were soon shown to be hollow claims, it was just the conventional reluctance by Civil Servants to get drawn into politics. The boffins themselves made clear they had no desire to get dragged into the Lobby’s games. Be in no doubt that if they had commented in a less than hostile manner to Cummings, these same Lobby titans would be outraged at “Boris politicising Civil Servants”. The perils of realtime punditry were apparent when Whitty made their tweets look idiotic, seconds after they were sent, when he spoke for himself.
They were made to look like muppets with their tweets because of their collective desire to be ‘first’ telling us what we can see and hear with our own eyes – most interested people are actually watching the briefing. You can see why the Lobby don’t want to televise normal briefings…
