In an apparent move to end the war on the media waged by former adviser Dominic Cummings, Downing Street today hailed the “positive” role played by journalists in keeping the public informed during the coronavirus pandemic.
The olive branch was offered by Boris Johnson’s new press secretary Allegra Stratton, whose arrival at 10 Downing Street last month triggered the dramatic sequence of events leading to the departure of Mr Cummings and his ally Lee Cain last week.
Her comments effectively disowned an allegation made by a Downing Street source earlier this year that “public confidence in the media has collapsed during this emergency” – a claim which No 10 was unable later to provide any evidence to support, despite repeated requests.
Making her first appearance at a briefing of lobby journalists, Ms Stratton made clear that the prime minister would not be taking the step, now that Mr Cummings is no longer part of his team, of apologising for his former adviser’s lockdown-breaking trip to Durham. She insisted: “That is now in the past.”
Appointed by Mr Johnson to act as his spokesperson in regular White House-style TV briefings, Ms Stratton became the first Downing Street source to agree to be quoted by name in lobby briefings, held behind closed doors in Westminster.
Mr Johnson’s desire to move on from Cummings’s combative approach to the media was apparent within a day of his departure, as ministers resumed appearances on ITV1’s Good Morning Britain for interview by Piers Morgan and Susannah Reid after a boycott lasting months.
Asked today whether Mr Johnson stood by the claim that trust in the media had collapsed during the Covid-19 crisis, Ms Stratton went out of her way to dispel notions that the PM was critical of journalists’ role.
“The prime minister, as a former journalist, has spoken publicly about the positive role the media has played during this pandemic in spreading information about what we need people to do, to observe social distancing and so on,” she said.
“And indeed, inside the building, quite often the prime minister can be heard saying he has seen such-and-such a TV broadcast which was very powerful and what should we be doing about the particular issue.
“It’s certainly my understanding that the prime minister believes the media has had a very good and powerful role during the pandemic so far.”
Asked if Mr Johnson would now be apologising to people outraged by Mr Cummings’ decision to drive his family from London to Durham at a time when he believed that both he and his wife were infected with Covid-19, Ms Stratton said: “I think the prime minister regards that issue to be closed.
“At the time Dominic Cummings did a lengthy explanation of his actions. The prime minister believed then that he had accounted for himself and that is now in the past.”
The first televised briefings from Downing Street are expected next month, after the conversion of a former Privy Council courthouse into a soundproofed studio.
