02 As seen on TV…


Pippa Crerar, Daily Mirror political editor, on press and government relations during the pandemic


T


he appointment of Allegra Straton as Boris Johnson’s White House- style press secretary is a defining moment in the


relationship between Number 10 and the media. I hope the intention is to increase scrutiny and accountability. But I fear that it could be used as an excuse to reduce transparency by limiting questions, those who can ask them, or our on-the-record access to ministers.


Britain has a parliamentary


system, not a presidential one. It also has a Number 10 that has adopted a particularly belligerent approach to the media. Tey may claim the new system is designed to increase transparency, but many in political journalism regard that with scepticism. Tey suspect Downing Street wants to go straight over the heads of the press directly to the public, removing a crucial layer of accountability.


Te appointment is one fraught with risk for the government. Straton may be an experienced and respected professional, but she is also acting as the PM’s frontman at a time when more ire is directed towards him than ever. When things go wrong, as they inevitably


will, they will be beamed in full technicolour glory straight into peoples’ living rooms. Te lobby’s relationship with


government changed when the pandemic hit. Up until that point, it was extremely combative as the Tories had never quite shiſted out of campaigning mode aſter the election. It culminated in the now infamous Brexit briefing when political editors were divided into two groups depending on whether they were in favour or not, on the orders of the PM’s pugilistic director of communications Lee Cain. Te whole group walked out in protest. But then the pandemic struck. No 10 called a truce. Aſter criticism that it had been selectively briefing during a national crisis, the government moved to daily press conferences. As this year’s press gallery chair, I was responsible for drawing up a rota for questions. We tried to broaden the conversation, bringing in specialist publications, health/ science editors and regional reporters. Just as the government came under atack for its handling of the pandemic, so did the media for some of our coverage. Many people felt we didn’t challenge them


enough in the early days, others felt that we challenged too much. Te reality is that, just like the rest of the country, we were dealing with an unprecedented situation. Parliament was shut down for four weeks. Political journalism is not designed to work in isolation. Aſter the Mirror and Te Guardian


broke the Dominic Cummings lockdown story, the PM refused to let his top scientific advisers Prof Chris Whity and Sir Patrick Vallance answer questions. He claimed they didn’t want to be dragged into the politics. It was Orwellian. Part of the government’s problem has been its communications strategy. Tis has too oſten been confused, muddled by policy U-turns, complicated by different approaches across the UK and undermined by high-profile breaches. Dominic Cummings gets blamed for much of that, but building him up into some sort of all-knowing genius ultimately just lets the PM off the hook.


In these dark times, with the media being hit financially together with the rest of the economy, there are still reasons for hope for journalism. Trust in established media rose during the first lockdown. We should harness that faith and remind the public that journalism is still a force for good.


COVID-19


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