Televised lobby briefings should increase accountability – but No 10 is also motivated by self-interest

When I joined the band of Westminster-based journalists in 1982, the lobby rulebook I was handed dictated that Downing Street’s twice-daily briefings be attributed only to anonymous “Whitehall sources”.

After a boycott of the outdated system by The Independent and other newspapers in the late 1980s, the media was allowed to say the briefings were from “Downing Street sources” and, in 1997, the prime minister’s spokesperson.

Various reforms have been tried since, as governments tried to bypass the lobby. Labour flirted with televised briefings by a minister, but the love affair was short-lived; politicians inevitably tripped up on questions beyond their own brief.

Now Downing Street has decided the afternoon lobby briefing will be televised from this autumn, and given by a yet-to-be-recruited senior broadcaster. It says White House-style press conferences will increase “accountability and transparency”. That’s true, in theory. But I suspect Team Boris is also motivated by self-interest. Like many of its predecessors, it wants the public to receive its message unmediated by the lobby.

It is trying to preserve what it sees as the pluses from the daily No 10 press conferences on coronavirus, now downgraded to occasional events (when it suits the government, not the media).

A daily on-camera session is not without risks; the new front person will face hostile bowling when the wicket is sticky. Evasions and mistakes will be magnified by the cameras. Policy announcements might not be big enough to throw reporters off the scent. But the coronavirus pressers suggest Downing Street will want to be firmly in the driving seat. It reduced the number of questions from journalists by allowing two from the public. Journalists were denied follow-up questions by ministers when the first one was too tough for their liking.

A more open process will be needed for the new briefings to have credibility. No 10 showed its command and control instincts when it tried to bar some non Tory-supporting outlets from a technical briefing in February. It should avoid such tricks, and sign up to hour-long press conferences being the norm so they are not cut short, Trump-style.

While the pandemic is still with us, real transparency would require scientific and medical advisers to appear at some briefings. Their presence at the coronavirus pressers was scaled down when it became inconvenient for the politicians.

As Boris Johnson told LBC Radio, people have liked more direct information and “they’ve particularly liked our brilliant scientific and medical advisers, possibly more than the politicians to be frank”. Amen to that.

Yours

Andrew Grice
Political commentator