At the Lobby briefing of Westminster journalists Starmer’s spokesman attacked Trump for his comments on NATO troops not being on the ‘front line’ in conflicts with America:
“The President was wrong to diminish the role of NATO troops, including British forces in Afghanistan. Following the 911 attacks on the US, Article 5 of the NATO treaty was invoked for the first time, and British forces served alongside American and other allied troops in sustained combat operations.”
New combative Starmer stance at play…
There have been some changes to the Downing Street team since late last year. Shuffling deckchairs…
After a secondment period two new permanent briefing SpAds Bella Ford and Tom Hourigan have been hired to an enlarged team. Existing briefing SpAd Jason Keen has been promoted to head of briefings. Communications Director Tim Allan promised a “strong start in January.” Reach for the sky…
Ex-Mirror Pol Ed John Stevens has taken over the print liaison brief in No10. There are several other changes – new departmental SpAds alongside movement and additions in Downing Street. If you thought No10 wasn’t explaining itself enough…
Guido updates all changes live, and first. Find you thought the full up-to-date list of serving SpAds at order-order.com/spads
Very many tired SpAds have shifted off from Westminster to try to enjoy a long Christmas break. It starts again in January…
Insiders point out that Downing Street’s political director Amy Richards enjoyed her last day yesterday. She’s back after the New Year. Nice for some…
Director of Communications Tim Allan was snapped entering Downing Street today with a sheet that boasted of a “strong start in January” with a “comprehensive” announcements grid for the first week back at school. Darren Jones remarked this week that the less the government announces the better…
Starmer’s team have not said where he will be over Christmas. Far away…
Yesterday’s notorious ‘take out the trash’ day was vintage even by SW1 standards: the final Parliamentary sitting before Christmas is used to sneak out a raft of bad news. Lots of outlets pointed out the high number of ‘trash’ ministerial statements, few looked at the detail…
The row over Labour postponing local elections was revealed in Alison McGovern’s statement on Local Government Reorganisation. She admitted that the councils that may postpone elections have already started making preparations for them: how much public money will be wasted in that u-turn? The statement reveals the government is way off target with its council reorganisation programme: “This is a complex process, and we will take decisions based on the evidence provided.” Guido predicts this could see elections delayed in 2027 too…
The Home Office snuck out the terms of reference for its review into the asylum detention centre at Manston in Kent. It is likely to be critical of the facility, a challenge for Mahmood in 2026…
The farce of the Ajax vehicle programme collapse continues. The MoD revealed “findings from the investigations into Ajax will be closely aligned to decisions in the Defence Investment Plan.” Labour’s defence investment plan is overdue and is clearly being held up by the Ajax debacle…
Paymaster General Nick Thomas-Symonds admitted to Parliament that the long-running Covid Inquiry cost £9.3 million so far in FY25-6 with at least 200 civil servants tasked (full time equivalent) to man the government unit handling it. The statement admits: “While every effort has been made to ensure a robust methodology, complexities remain in trying to quantify the time and costs dedicated to the Inquiry alone.” The government does not even know how much it is costing…
That’s just a few of the statements. As families cut back at Christmas and businesspeople contemplate filing their January tax return, what exactly is it all for?
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…
Burnham spinning like a wheel in the Commons:
“I will very much say so on the record… It was legitimate. I have always respected the result. I have never questioned its legitimacy. But I am within my rights to point out where foreign actors are looking to interfere in British democracy.”