Regional political journalists were denied interviews with Jeremy Corbyn at Labour’s conference – despite his spin doctor claiming he “loves the local press.”
The new Labour leader had been due to meet members of the regional press in Brighton yesterday, but pulled out 45 minutes before he was due to be interviewed.
It is understood reporters from titles including the Birmingham Post, Eastern Daily Press, Liverpool Echo, Manchester Evening News, Western Mail, Western Morning News and Yorkshire Post were among those let down.
Journalists from The Journal, Newcastle, and the Press & Journal, Aberdeen, were also present.
One of the reporters, who had been due to meet Mr Corbyn, told HTFP: “We were told that we would have a chat with him at quarter to one, then told at midday he’s not doing it. We were not given an official reason for it.
“We had a message from somebody within the press team. We did ask whether we could get John McDonnell but were then told they couldn’t get him either.
“I don’t think it was a deliberate strategy to cut out the regional press, we were just at the back of the queue. The press guys really tried to get something.”
It is understood Mr Corbyn had arrived late at an earlier engagement to speak to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and was also interviewed for other national media, including Newsnight, during yesterday morning.
The reporter added: “Although it probably isn’t a deliberate strategy, it is nonetheless incredibly inconsiderate and short-sighted.
“We haven’t been given an official reason for why he’s pulled out, or an apology from him, but we get the sense that he had simply had enough of doing media and refused to do any more.”
Mr Corbyn’s cancellation comes after Brighton daily The Argus reported on Monday that it was given just a few minutes to interview him.
At the time his interim director of communications told reporter Joel Adams that Mr Corbyn “loves the local press”.
Mr Corbyn’s seemingly fraught relationship with the press is set to become a theme of his leadership after he spent part of his leader’s speech on Tuesday attacking the media.
Labour has yet to respond to HTFP’s request for a comment.
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Will the nation’s regional newspaper readers really lose much sleep at being denied answers to these political reporters’ no-doubt searingly insightful questions? No, I thought not. Annoying for the reporters concerned, who had to explain to their self-important bosses why no interview was forthcoming, but it doesn’t (sorry folks) amount to much in the greater scheme of things. It is another example of how low the local and regional press has sunk in people’s estimation, and we all know who is responsible for that. And the Argus got only a few minutes. What did Mike expect…..lunch?
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Spin docs always say that, and they’re almost always, er, spinning. The surprise is that anyone reports these ‘we love the local press’ lines with a straight face.
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Ah, so this would be ‘the new politics’ then, would it?
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It’s Corbyn’s version of treating the local Press like royalty.
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Either he doesn’t want to be Labour leader (never mind PM) and wants to be out of the role as quickly as he can, or he has no idea about the relationship between media and the electorate. I know some (most) national tabloids have acted disgustingly towards him but to show such contempt towards the regional media, an important way of communicating with those who might vote for his party, is quite embarrassing.
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I suspect that in Labour’s publicity team, as in the Tories’, there are jobsworths who are as protective of their alleged boss as an overzealous doctor’s receptionist…
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The regional press is probably Corbyn’s only hope of getting balanced reporting of his views. Whatever you think of him – and I don’t think much – his treatment by the nationals has been disgraceful.
I suspect Corbyn and his press team suffer from the usual metropolitan myopia – an inability to see beyond Barnet. Remember, Corbyn has been MP for Islington for 33 years. The bloke probably has no idea where Yorkshire is. He strikes me as the typical know-nothing political careerist who has never done a proper job.
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It’s a far cry from the days when Labour leaders actively courted the local press and went out of their way to preserve a folksy image for their constituents. I’m thinking particularly about Harold Wilson who when visiting one of the largest factories in his constituency invited myself and my photographer to sit on the lowered boot lid of his car while it took him around the various departments of the massive site. At the end of the visit he had his driver drop us off back at the main car park where we had parked. Six months later I met him again while “splashing the porcelain” at a civic dinner. This time he was Prime Minister! “Need a lift home?” he quipped.
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