Starmer calls for investigation into Downing Street “media banning”

Keir Starmer has called for an urgent investigation into the decision of No 10 Downing Street to “ban selected media” from a briefing on Monday.

In a letter to the Cabinet Secretary today, the leadership candidate said that the move had “undermined the civil service’s ability to comply with its core values of integrity, objectivity and impartiality”.

Boris Johnson was accused of avoiding press scrutiny and employing tactics similar to those used by Donald Trump after selected journalists – from The Mirror, i, and other publications – were excluded from a No 10 briefing.

Responding to the reports, Starmer wrote to Mark Sedwill: “The media’s access to the Prime Minister’s chief negotiator should not be determined by political favouritism.”

Several reporters who were invited to the briefing – including the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg and ITV’s Robert Peston – decided to walk out in protest.

The meeting was to be given by government officials – specifically, the Brexit adviser David Frost – who should be neutral and not political.

Although Starmer has incorrectly referred to Frost as a “senior civil servant”, it is understood that the Brexit adviser should follow a code that forbids him from “briefing purely on party political matters”.

Below is the full text of the letter sent by Keir Starmer.

Dear Sir Mark,

Media access to civil service briefings.

I am writing following Number 10’s decision to ban selected media from attending a briefing with a senior civil servant.

According to reports, Number 10 invited selected political journalists to a briefing with the Prime Minister’s lead Brexit negotiator David Frost.

When journalists from other news outlets arrived at Number 10, the Prime Minister’s Director of Communications is reported to have said: “Those invited to the briefing can stay – everyone else, I’m afraid, will have to leave.” When challenged about this decision, he added: “We’re welcome to brief whoever we like, whenever we like.”

David Frost is a civil service appointee. The Civil Service code states that staff must “carry out [their] responsibilities in a way that is fair, just and equitable and reflects the Civil Service commitment to equality and diversity.” It adds that civil servants must not “act in a way that unjustifiably favours or discriminates against particular individuals or interests.”

The actions of the Prime Minister’s Director of Communications, who is a political appointee, are deeply disturbing. I am concerned that they have undermined the civil service’s ability to comply with its core values of integrity, objectivity and impartiality. Equally, banning sections of the media from attending important briefings about important matters of government is damaging to democracy.

For instance, the Government’s post-Brexit trade plans are matters of national importance. The media’s access to the Prime Minister’s chief negotiator should not be determined by political favouritism.

I would ask that you investigate urgently this matter and provide assurance that such an incident will not happen again. Given the seriousness of this matter, I am putting this letter in the public domain.

Yours sincerely,

Keir Starmer