When asked about the plan in an interview on LBC radio on Friday, Johnson said the public liked “seeing what’s going on” and wants “direct commitment and things from us.”
However, the coronavirus briefings also faced criticism for not providing sufficient clarity. “Is there really any point to these daily press conferences?” Michael Deacon of the Telegraph asked in early April. “Tonight, all they got was 24 minutes of the most pitiful and discouraging waffle.”
The briefings will be held at 9 Downing Street, which will become a media suite just like in the White House. The morning briefing will continue normally.
British political journalists were baffled by the move, but initial reactions were generally positive. A prominent political commentator on Times Radio, Tom Newton Dunn, said it was a “good idea”; Jim Pickard of the Financial Times said “there was no harm” in the televised briefings because “most journalists believe in transparency”; and Pippa Crerar, political editor of Mirror (and president of the Parliamentary Press Gallery), said it was “win-win” for number 10, with the best-attended morning briefing and the opportunity to look transparent to the public by the late.
The old government communications figures Playbook spoke to last night were either excited or intrigued.
Paul Harrison, former press secretary to former Prime Minister Theresa May, said whoever gets the broadcast job will be crucial. “Whoever chooses No. 10 as their new spokesperson will almost immediately become one of the most visible people in the entire administration, with significantly more exposure to the media than any of the cabinet members,” she said. “Given the influence on evening news shows that daily press briefings showed they could have, there is an important prize for Downing Street shaping the news agenda. The risk, something I know personally, is that sometimes Reporting to the press is necessarily an exercise defense and, bluntly, that won’t always look terrific on television. “
Downing Street communications director during the Theresa May years, Robbie Gibb, who complained about questions from journalists at coronavirus briefings, likes the sound of it. “It builds on the success of the COVID briefings, which allowed large television audiences to hear directly from ministers and senior officials,” he said. “A more open and transparent government has to be a good thing.”
David Cameron’s former head of communications Craig Oliver is also on board. “It is a courageous and much-needed shake-up of the lobby system, bringing transparency to a process that has too often been shrouded in unnecessary secrets,” she said.
The switch to briefings is part of a larger plan to reduce the number of press officers working in the British public administration, as part of a review of government communications. The proposals, to be included in an expense review scheduled for next week, will see all departments limited to 30 communications staff, meaning a significant cut in the army of approximately 4,000 working across the civil service. .
All teams will be centrally managed from the Cabinet Office, rather than from their own departments, with up to four chief communications officers at the CEO level reporting to new Downing Street Permanent Secretary Simon Case, a source told Playbook.
Cain is said to have told government communications chiefs earlier this year that he wanted smaller press teams for a quicker rebuttal and an increase in streaming and digital news experience. Alex Aiken, executive director of government communications (who is not leaving office, contrary to a report), developed the new structure. Downing Street believes that the remaining communications staff will be better paid, while the communications managers in each department will have a clearer line for promotion.
News of job cuts has not gone down well in parts of Whitehall, and staff are angry that they were not informed in advance. Senior communications managers in the civil service may have found out last night or this morning, and senior CEOs are believed to have been briefed only in the hours leading up to the story’s appearance in the newspapers.
A press officer with whom Playbook spoke last night was outraged. “Not telling them something like this is incredibly disrespectful,” said the person. “There are people sitting at home right now who have been talking to journalists and protecting the government at all hours of the night, waiting for the covers to fall, and this has fallen, and they are probably thinking ‘what the hell.'”
Meanwhile, Dave Penman, secretary general of the FDA union for officials, argued that the move amounted to “a dramatic reduction in the power of departments and their ministers to control their own communications.” He added: “If I were a cabinet minister, I would be furious.”
However, the press officers with whom the London Playbook spoke last night did agree that the number of communications staff could be reduced, even if the landing of the ad could irritate the workforce. A Whitehall source noted that the idea crystallized during the 2019 election campaign, when special political advisers found themselves doing the work of entire departmental communications teams due to purdah (the pre-election period when government departments are prohibited from speaking. with journalists).
Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings told advisers after the election that departmental communications equipment could be greatly reduced but offer the same level of output. Now we will see if he was right.
Cristina Gallardo contributed reporting.
