Controlling the Message

Regular readers will be aware that one effect of lockdown conditions for me has been the opportunity of taking rather more notice of domestic media matters than usual. In this regard Good Morning Britain and particularly Piers Morgan continues to give good value. 

The government boycott of the show carries on, however the appearance of Lord Grade on Wednesday, ostensibly to talk about his Lords committee report on gambling, gave the golden opportunity for alternate presenter Ben Shepherd to raise the matter with the Peer. Grade is of course uniquely qualified to offer shrewd and informed observations being a Tory; media mogul; former BBC Chairman; former Chair of ITV; extremely well-connected and an engaging personality. He didn't disappoint!

Obviously feeling completely 'at home' by engaging with an ITV production whose audience figures he could only have dreamt of when he was at the ITV helm, he nevertheless somewhat abused the hospitality by stating GMB was being 'arrogant' in demanding the appearance of government ministers because they could choose any of the plethora of media channels by which to get their message across. 

I thought this was a bit disingenuous of Grade and despite the way it was reported in the Tory press, 



it was clearly said with a twinkle in his eye. In response to being asked what he would do in such a situation if he was in charge he responded by saying 'go round the back door; have a discreet conversation' and with a nod, wink and tapping his nose he said 'leave it with me'. 

It's a very interesting situation for current ITV management, something certainly not lost on the ever-shrewd Grade. With audience figures continuing to rise, do you really jeopardise that by trying to reign-in Piers or even risk him walking? Only recently he joked that contract renewal discussions were due to start. Equally, I'm trying to imagine the content of any 'back door' discussions with No10. I'd bet my bottom dollar Cummings would say the price of any climb down would be Piers getting the chop. 

All along Piers Morgan has said he isn't bothered about the government boycott and he's happy if it continues. I suspect he might be right and the stand-off carries on. 

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We all know the poor-old BBC is in a very difficult position vis-a-vis the Tory government, but I did notice they 'fact-checked' that big 'build, build, build' speech Boris Johnson made on Tuesday and blimey if they didn't find it was all smoke and mirrors!  

In politics and as in many aspects of life, information is power and there's been a battle going on for some time with Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson trying to control the media. Just before we all became preoccupied with Covid, in February there was an unprecedented walk-out by the press lobby. This from the Guardian:-

The press is right to stand up to Boris Johnson and his bullyboy tactics

The government wants to pick and choose who holds it to account. That’s not how democracy works

Whose side are you on?” It’s hard to think of a more literal expression of the question than Monday’s playground tactics inside Downing Street, when political reporters seeking access to an official briefing on Brexit were divided up and made to stand on opposite sides of the room. On one side were those allowed in; on the other the uninvited, including the Daily Mirror, which was kicked off the Tory battle bus during the election campaign.

My ex-lobby correspondent’s heart obviously leaps at the fact that the entire pack promptly walked out in solidarity with the unfavoured. Quite right too; in a democracy, governments don’t get to pick and choose who scrutinises them on behalf of the voters, and briefings by politically neutral civil servants shouldn’t be caught up in political power games.

But it’s not the only example of an alarming control freak tendency emerging in No 10. On the same day, Boris Johnson gave his first big Brexit speech of the year to a business audience from which the three best known business organisations in the country – the CBI, the British Chambers of Commerce and the Institute of Directors – were excluded. Their sin, reportedly, was to have “wasted their time lobbying government” against what they presumably see as the dangers of his Brexit strategy, instead of preparing their worried members to knuckle down and accept it.

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This weekend’s briefings about how Dominic Cummings supposedly has spies in every Westminster restaurant, to snitch on special advisors caught hanging out with journalists, were ridiculous on one level – you might as well try and stop the rain falling as stop Westminster gossiping. But it’s clear that Cummings and Lee Cain, the former Sun journalist serving as press secretary to Johnson, are seeking to centralise the flow of government information through themselves, because in politics, information is power.

Control the flow, and you can not only turn the tap off for disobedient media outlets – something already happening to broadcasters, with Downing Street actively boycotting programmes deemed “hostile” or using Facebook Live rather than broadcast interviews to deliver announcements – you also make it harder for dissident ministers to get their version of events out when things go wrong.

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We are now four months on and Cummings feels fire-proof. He's got rid of the troublesome Cabinet Secretary, scrapped DFID and is now intent on gaining control of the message. This from the BBC:-

The UK government is planning to introduce daily televised press briefings later this year. The new format, similar to that used by the White House in the United States, is expected to come in by October.

Boris Johnson told LBC Radio the recent daily televised coronavirus briefings showed the public wanted more "direct engagement" with decision-makers. It is understood an experienced broadcaster will be recruited to host the question-and-answer sessions. Asked whether we would himself appear every day, the PM said this was "not the plan" but he would be "popping up from time to time".

Currently, political journalists are able to question the prime minister's official spokesperson - who is a civil servant - off camera every day. These briefings are on the record, meaning they can be quoted and attributed to the spokesperson. Under the changes, the briefings will be on camera. A government spokesman said work would begin shortly on adapting 9 Downing Street, which will be used for the briefings. In recent years, this building has been used by the chief whip and the Brexit secretary.

Nobody has been recruited yet to host the briefings and asked about reports that former This Morning host Richard Madeley was being considered, the spokesman said that was "news to me".

For several months during the coronavirus pandemic, the government held daily briefings from No 10 every day. They started on 16 March, following criticism of a lack of transparency over government plans to stem the spread of the virus. They were led by a senior minister - sometimes Boris Johnson - and normally accompanied by scientific and medical experts. Daily press conferences ended on 23 June., although ad hoc briefings are still taking place. 

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I'll round this off with a link to that LBC session with the spectacularly ill-informed Boris Johnson bullshitting and blathering as usual. There's an old saying that springs to mind and one that Dominic Cummings should heed. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.