It’s not just Whitehall, Dominic Cummings has Parliament’s journalists in his sights too

As everyone slowly returned after the Christmas holidays, Boris Johnson’s senior advisor, Dominic Cummings, posted a request online that has attracted a lot of attention. Cummings asked for “data scientists, project managers, policy experts, assorted weirdos” to apply to work in government as special advisors (SpAds), or possibly civil service officials.

“We want to hire an unusual set of people with different skills and backgrounds to work in Downing Street with the best officials, some as SpAds and perhaps some as officials,” wrote Cummings.

Anyone who has vaguely followed Cummings’s career, from working for then Education Secretary Michael Gove, to leading the Vote Leave campaign, to being portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in a TV drama, will be well aware of his desire to shake things up that borders on the pathological. We know about it, in no small part, down to musings on the very blog on which he posted this government job advert.

No surprise then that it is not only Whitehall’s feathers that he is ruffling. He is also seemingly intent on shaking up how government interacts with the journalists accredited to attend daily briefings with its official spokesperson – known as the Lobby. In that same blog post, Cummings wrote:

“In SW1 communication is generally treated as almost synonymous with ‘talking to the lobby’. This is partly why so much punditry is ‘narrative from noise’. With no election for years and huge changes in the digital world, there is a chance and a need to do things very differently.”

Now, it has emerged that those briefings are changing. In a memo seen by TheArticle, Lobby chairman and Telegraph assistant editor Christopher Hope, laid out the changes to his colleagues. Meetings will now be held in 9 Downing Street instead of another government building, meaning the journalists will have to navigate heavy security, not to mention crowds, to get to them. The changes can’t solely be attributed to Cummings. The Lobby is corresponding with the Downing Street’s director of communications, Lee Cain, on the issue. But, given the blog and his influence in government, there was surely significant involvement from Cummings.

No surprise that the Lobby is not happy about the changes, which were introduced without consultation and come into effect on Monday. In his memo, Hope also laid out the concerns. These included that it “will make it harder for all teams to attend them, particularly smaller newspapers, broadcasters and websites,” and that “we may not be able to take mobile phones into the 9 Downing Street Lobby meeting which will mean that it is difficult to file accurately and promptly straight after it.” Most worryingly, Hope highlighted the fear “that having to gain access through the gate of Number 10 allows the current or any future administration to refuse access to journalists it may not approve of, which would be damaging to the freedom of the Press.”

Of course, most people won’t notice this row, and most of those who do won’t care. Anyone who does care will likely be happy to see journalists irritated. Cummings and Co. certainly know this. Classic Dom.

It is not unfair to say that the Lobby system is outdated. In our modern media age, largely restricting the information flow from government to a select group of journalists feels arcane. It is. It can also often seem like everyone is just writing the same story, as journalists diligently report lines from the briefing they all attended.

However, the concerns laid out in Hope’s memo are well-founded, particularly those about a government’s ability to limit access. We saw it in the US, where the Trump administration temporarily revoked CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s credentials after a row in a briefing. With the government in possession of a large majority, Parliament’s ability to hold it to account is greatly reduced. It means the work of political and policy journalists, particularly, but not exclusively, those with access to daily government briefings, is even more important. Any changes clearly need to happen by consensus and reflect the reality of how media organisations and government can function and interact. Doing anything that might limit journalists’ ability to bring information to the public is very serious indeed.

Dominic Cummings likes to portray himself as a maverick. While it is important not to mythologise one lone advisor, we should have all learned by now not to simply laugh off the rather grandiose statements that outline his bid to reform government. The Lobby will get first-hand experience of that on Monday.