Downing St to house White House-style televised press briefings

Downing Street has revealed plans to televise daily press briefings with Westminster journalists in a major change to its communications strategy.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson at a Covid-19 press briefing. Picture: Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

Lobby correspondents – the political reporters based in the Houses of Parliament – have twice daily briefings with the Prime Minister’s spokesman or deputy, who are both civil servants.

The briefings are on the record, meaning they can be quoted and attributed to Number 10, but are not broadcast.

Under the new plans, the afternoon session will be filmed at 9 Downing Street, while the morning briefing will continue to be held behind closed doors.

An experienced broadcaster is reportedly being sought to lead the White House-style briefings on behalf of the Government.

Boris Johnson confirmed the changes as he declared people should not be “bullied” into “taking the knee” in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Prime Minister indicated he was not prepared to follow the example of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who was photographed in the symbolic act of support, saying he believes in “substance” not “gestures”.

Speaking on an LBC radio phone-in, he expressed concern that some police officers had been pressurised into doing so during protests in London following the death of George Floyd in the United States.

“I don’t want people to be bullied into doing things they don’t necessarily want to do,” he said.

“If you think of what happened with those police officers standing at the Cenotaph, where they were being insulted in quite aggressive terms by some members of the crowd and told to take the knee.

“Some of them did and it was very difficult then for the others who didn’t. That’s my position.

“I think it is very, very important that you don’t do things that make life difficult or embarrassing.”

His comments came after foreign secretary Dominic Raab was criticised last month for saying he would only take the knee for “the Queen and the missus when I asked her to marry me”.

Mr Johnson said he believed in practical action to tackle prejudice and discrimination, highlighting his record in promoting black police officers while London mayor.

“I don’t believe in gestures, I believe in substance,” he said. “I believe in doing things that make a practical difference.”

Mr Johnson also confirmed to LBC Radio the move to hold White House-style televised briefings, suggesting the public had liked having more direct information from ministers during the coronavirus press conferences.

He said: “People have liked a more direct, detailed information from the Government about what is going on – and I think that they’ve actually particularly liked our brilliant scientific and medical advisers, possibly more than the politicians to be frank.

“We do think that people want direct engagement and want stuff from us, and so we’re going to have a go at that.”

Mr Johnson said he would “pop up from time to time” at the briefings.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman later said the briefings would not be televised until at least the autumn.