Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance should be banned from Covid press briefings, says leading lawyer

Professors ‘Glum and Glummer’ Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance should be banned from Covid press briefings, says leading lawyer who warns the Government has been ‘captured’ by scientists Shanker Singham said return to press conferences would mean same mistakes Leading Brexit lawyer warned the Government has been ‘captured’ by scientists Last month, Professor Whitty and … Read more

Boris Johnson ‘wants Rishi Sunak’s top adviser to host No10 TV briefings’

Ex-TV presenter mother-of-two who went back to work six weeks after giving birth ‘is Boris Johnson’s preferred choice’ to front No10’s White House-style daily televised press briefings after overseeing rise of ‘Dishy Rishi’ Sunak Downing Street is planning to launch daily televised press briefings in October Boris Johnson reportedly wants Rishi Sunak’s director of communications … Read more

Nicola Sturgeon is accused of using daily Covid briefings as ‘party political broadcasts’

Nicola Sturgeon is using her daily coronavirus press conferences as ‘party political broadcasts’ and a lack of scrutiny of her decisions has allowed her to cultivate a ‘Saint Nicola’ persona in Scotland through the crisis, a leading MSP told MailOnline today. Michelle Ballantyne, Conservative MSP for South Scotland, spoke out as the Prime Minister visited the … Read more

Coronavirus US: Trump resuming briefings due to viewing figures

Donald Trump touted Monday that he will resume the ‘very successful’ briefings on the pandemic after his frequent appearances at the White House Coronavirus Task Force updates ceased. The president insisted that briefings are the best way to update Americans on the coronavirus crisis, especially amid a surge in infection rates, as Trump says he … Read more

I’m bringing back my coronavirus briefings Trump boasts because ‘record numbers of people watched’

Donald Trump touted Monday that he will resume the ‘very successful’ briefings on the pandemic after his frequent appearances at the White House Coronavirus Task Force updates ceased. The president insisted that briefings are the best way to update Americans on the coronavirus crisis, especially amid a surge in infection rates, as Trump says he … Read more

Boris Johnson to introduce White House-style daily televised press briefings

Boris Johnson will introduce White House-style daily televised press briefings with an ‘experienced broadcaster’ fielding questions No10 wants to replace off camera briefing for journalists with a televised one White House-style afternoon events will be hosted by experienced broadcaster Downing Street aims to build on success of daily coronavirus press conferences  By Jack Maidment, Deputy … Read more

How Number 10’s Covid weekend briefings lost 25 million viewers

How viewing figures for No10’s coronavirus briefings have wavered from record highs of 27.5m to lows of 2m viewers as ministers scrap Saturday and Sunday addresses The Government has held daily press briefings on Covid-19 since March 16 Boris Johnson’s both national addresses received around 25 million viewers  Last Sunday, just 2.21 million people tuned … Read more

Senior Tories call for daily No10 coronavirus briefings to be scaled back

‘End the bloody boring daily No10 coronavirus briefings’: Tory MPs say they should be scaled back to once a week to ‘normalise’ the country Daily Downing Street briefings have been held on coroanvirus since mid-March Senior Tories say the government is under pressure to make announcements  Calls for the press conference to be scaled back … Read more

Two hours on media attacks, 45 minutes on self-congratulation during Trump’s coronavirus briefings

President Trump spends around two hours attacking the media and Democrats during the coronavirus briefings, according to analysis in two reports. According to studies of the press conferences, Trump devotes 45 minutes on average to praising his own response to the crisis, while designating just four-and-a-half minutes to the victims of the pandemic. Both the … Read more

Top Tories join calls to ban Dominic Cummings from coronavirus scientific briefings

Top Tories have joined calls to ban Dominic Cummings from coronavirus scientific briefings. The former Brexit secretary David Davis is among those pushing for Cummings and Ben Warner, an adviser who ran the Tories’ private election computer model, to be prevented from attending future meetings of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).  Davis said that … Read more