Rishi Sunak has reportedly put a stop to the daily grilling of ministers on morning television and radio shows.
Previously, under his predecessors, one minister was chosen by Downing Street every day to answer questions on programmes such as BBC’s Breakfast, ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB) and BBC Radio 4’s Today.
Now the prime minister, who succeeded Liz Truss less than a month ago, will cut the frequency of interviews to about three days a week, The Mirror reports.
The interviews will also be scheduled for days when there is an announcement, the report adds - citing a Tory source who said ministers will be put on air when “there is something relevant to talk about”.
Mr Sunak’s ministers have already had to face tough questions while on broadcast rounds over the past few weeks, mostly notably over the prime minister’s decision to appoint Suella Braverman and Gavin Williamson to cabinet.
Mr Williamson resigned over claims he had bullied staff just two weeks after Mr Sunak appointed him as a minister.
Also embroiled in bullying allegations, deputy PM and justice secretary Dominic Raab will be investigated after two formal complaints were made about his behaviour toward staff.
Mr Sunak has also been criticised for appointing Suella Braverman as home secretary a mere six days after she was forced to resign from the same job, under Ms Truss’ premiership, for leaking documents.
The rumours that he will cut down on interviews would not be the first time that Conservative ministers have steered clear of the airwaves.
In August, when it was announced that the energy price cap would be hiked to record levels, the government failed to put a minister forward to do the media rounds on a Friday morning.
During the Tory leadership contest, Liz Truss made the controversial move of declining to be interviewed by political journalist Andrew Neil.
Back in 2019 before Mr Johnson was elected prime minister, he had refused to be interviewed by Mr Neil, who said during one of his shows: “We have been asking him for weeks now to give us a date, a time, a venue. As of now, none has been forthcoming.”
During his election campaign, Mr Johnson avoided being questioned by Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan on GMB by hiding in a fridge at a farm in Leeds as he got cornered by the show’s cameramen.
During Mr Johnson’s premiership, some reporters were even banned from attending press briefings.
In February 2020, his director of communications Lee Cain tried to exclude reporters from the Mirror, the i, HuffPost, PoliticsHome, The Independent and others from an official government briefing.
Other journalists boycotted the briefing in solidarity, and Labour accused the Tories of “Trumpian tactics”.
In 2019, Mr Johnson didn’t turn up for a leader’s debate on climate change on Channel 4. The channel instead empty-chaired him by putting an ice sculpture in his place.
The Tories complained to Ofcom about the ice sculpture, but the regulator said the channel had editorial freedom to air the stunt.
