Running Out Of Fall Guys?

[diddlydo]

With the decision to drop the Downing St briefings at the weekend and Boris apparently only doing one briefing per week, is it possible that the Government can't actually find enough ministers willing to stand up and be counted when faced by the journos? Matt Hancock seems to have fronted more than his fair share and has become increasingly incoherent with each passing briefing.

[fiction-factory]

If Matt Hancock wasn't there I'm sure certain posters on here would accuse him of hiding to escape the criticism of his lies. The reason for having different people leading them is so they can focus on themes (Shapps for transport last night, Sunak for finance, Hancock for testing, Patel for policing, etc) but I can see a case for having one person just as I think Sturgeon does all the Scotland ones

[diddlydo]

If Boris is supposed to be totally in charge and leading from the front, is it not reasonable to expect him to do a bigger share of the briefings?

[bednobs]

I think it's possible that the Govt cant actually find enough to say about CV. Last night (I think it was or it may have been the night before) I notice that journalists were asking questions about things OTHER than CV. Not on

[bednobs]

and when that starts happening, I absolutely think the govt should stop giving everybody such access to them. It's not helpful (IMO)
I was also thinking we hadn't seen domonic Raab for ages. He's probably strained every sinew

[Old_Geezer]

Do we need as many as one briefing a week ?
Couldn't we ease off now, and have one a fortnight ? Perhaps if they wore masks ?

[diddlydo]

OG - no to one per fortnight. The graphs are useful to see how things are developing and to show what a c***-up the government has made over so many things Covid-related.

[bednobs]

Definitely 3 per week at the most but questions limiTed to only covid related stuff.

[diddlydo]

Bednobs - do you have an example of a non-Covid question?

[Mozz71]

One a week is more than sufficient. I'm sure that if anything important needs to be announced, normal press conferences will suffice.

[bednobs]

Yes I can't remember the day or the journalist but I think it was Beth someone. She asked about the George Floyd situation. It's not on. The briefings should be a mainly one way dialogue about covid imo

[fiction-factory]

We've had the occasional question about Brexit too

[gulliver1]

09.02 Diddly ,They daren't put Boris on too often , every time he appears the Tory ratings fall

[diddlydo]

Gulliver - and it's easy to see why! Err, umm, bluster, bumble, mumble - totally incompetent.

[Mozz71]

Yes Gully, because Matt Hancock and Priti Patel are huge ratings winners!

[woofgang]

is there a link to the reduced briefings decision please?

[diddlydo]

Can't remember - live feed from either the BBC or the Guardian yesterday.

[Mamyalynne]

https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/18491135.downing-street-confirms-weekend-press-briefings-scrapped/

[Gromit]

Hancock is Health Minister. Corona is an health problem, which is why he does the majority of the briefings.
There is no need for a daily briefing, there never has been. The daily figures can be released on-line and in a press release.
People are fed up of it all now, so the party politic broadcast by the Government is no longer of any propaganda value.

[diddlydo]

There's nothing like a live briefing for showing up a bunch of incompetent, lying Tories so let's have 2 briefings per day.

[fiction-factory]

>They daren't put Boris on too often , every time he appears the Tory ratings fall
Yes, he's not the sort of person who could ever win an election is he.

I think it was right to introduce the briefings- in fact opponents of the government were arguing for them before they started. I appreciate the scientific contributions best. I agree that it's become too political- both in terms of questions from the press and the stuff being trotted out. For example too much emphasis is put on 'led by the science, doing the right thing at the right time, ramping it up, straining every sinew' and on meaningless figures about tests. There was also too much repetition- reminding us for 15 days running of the same 5 steps etc. The graphs are generally good though and Prof Van Tam, Chris Whitty, Jenny Harries are fascinating to listen to interesting to read between the lines sometimes.
The press questions are sometimes useful but have become repetitive and predictable. Follow ups are usually allowed but some politicians are good at not answering and then moving on.
I'd like to see a cross part committee- I think we have one- asking questions and have that broadcast instead