Guido Fawkes is facing off against the Lobby, the cohort of political journalists based in Westminster, by reporting live from Government briefings in defiance of the group’s code.
Tweets marked with the hashtag #No10Briefing sent yesterday from Guido’s official Twitter account revealed the content of the morning briefing with the Government’s spokesperson as it happened.
Boris hosting both a Burns Night Supper and Chinese New Year reception in Downing Street this week – presuming his period of sobriety during the election are very much over #No10Briefing
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) January 20, 2020
Guido editor Paul Staines, who supported Johnson’s Tory leadership bid, has said his team do not have Lobby passes and therefore are not obliged to follow the “quaint rules” set by the “cartel”.
This includes not reporting until the briefing has finished, a rule designed to stop journalists from gaining an advantage over each other so they all report at the same time.
Guido’s reporters do have parliamentary security passes that offer the same access as Lobby passes.
As the morning briefing is hosted by the Government, they do not require the Lobby’s permission to attend.
The Lobby is currently fighting changes to its operations brought in by Boris Johnson’s new administration, which has moved briefings out of the House of Commons to Number 9 Downing Street.
Lobby chairman and Telegraph chief political correspondent Christopher Hope has raised “significant concerns” over the changes, which were imposed without consultation at the start of the year.
The editor of every national news title in the UK signed a letter to the Government last week asking it to reconsider, but so far Number 10 is refusing to meet and discuss journalists’ concerns.
Following complaints about Guido’s tweets, Hope sent an email to junior reporter Christian Calgie, who had attended the briefing for the right-leaning political blog site, with a copy of the Lobby rules attached.
In response, Staines said the rules were the Lobby’s alone and not those set by Downing Street.
He said in a letter to Hope: “If your cartel wants to enforce anti-competitive rules on its members that is one thing. If you attempt to enforce those rules on us, or restrain us from going about our business in any way, we will not hesitate to seek a remedy under the law.
“You say this rule exists so that ‘no one gets an advantage’. A prominent Brexiteer like yourself should understand the advantages of avoiding regulatory alignment with a sclerotic organisation.”
Staines has confirmed to Press Gazette that Guido will continue to live tweet from morning press briefings “when we feel it might be of interest to our readers”. Afternoon briefings are chaired by the Lobby and are invite-only.
Guido has been critical of the Lobby system and previously called for briefings to be more transparent, suggesting they be televised.
No one ever got a scoop from a Lobby briefing. https://t.co/FDg8olnpFl
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) January 3, 2020
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