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Sweeping changes to Downing Street’s press lobby system have been criticised by journalists.
No 10 normally holds two briefings on most days that parliament sits to allow the lobby – political journalists that cover Westminster – to question the prime minister’s official spokesperson.
But in an email on Thursday, Tim Allan, Downing Street’s executive director of communications, said there would be no afternoon briefings from next month. He said No 10 would instead hold “occasional” afternoon press conferences with ministers, as well as technical briefings with officials.
He said the morning lobby briefing would continue but would sometimes be replaced by a press conference with ministers, or possibly Keir Starmer, the prime minister, “setting out the main government announcements of the day”. These would be open to specialist journalists and social media content creators.
Held inside 9 Downing Street, lobby briefings are on the record but not broadcast, and journalists can ask as many questions as they want, and on any topic. Government press conferences, in contrast, tend to have a limited number of questions from selected journalists.
The reduction in scrutiny was criticised by the organisation representing lobby journalists. David Hughes, from PA News, and Lizzy Buchan, from the Mirror, the outgoing and incoming lobby chairs, said in a joint statement: “We are greatly concerned by this step and furious that the lobby was not consulted about this move which restricts access and, we fear, scrutiny.
“Downing Street has promised more ministerial press conferences but they will obviously control the timetable for those and will no doubt seek to choose who they take questions from. None of this bodes well for transparency from a government which came into office promising to raise standards.”
In his email, Allan said the media landscape had been “utterly transformed”, leaving the current arrangements “not fit for purpose”.
He said: “The afternoon lobby has become very sparsely attended. It often repeats lines given at the morning lobby or repeats government lines on stories which are freely available elsewhere. It is not a good use of journalists’ time, or a good use of our communications resources.
“Instead of afternoon lobby, we will commence occasional afternoon press conferences with ministers in No 9 Downing Street. These will start with the minister setting out a new announcement from the government and taking questions on it.”
Allan added: “We will be instigating a series of morning press conferences in No 9 Downing Street with ministers, and occasionally the prime minister setting out the main government announcements of the day. These will be open to the lobby, to sector journalists and to content creators. When such press conferences occur, there will not be a lobby briefing that day.”
Kemi Badenoch said a future Tory government would restore the afternoon briefings. The Conservative leader said: “Keir Starmer is running scared. This is a Labour government that hates scrutiny and blames everyone else for its failings.”
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “The government will not improve its ability to communicate with the public by drastically reducing transparency and the media’s daily access. Updating how it communicates to better reach people is vital, but that can’t be done at the expense of scrutiny and accountability.”
