A UK Cabinet minister has been accused of trying to “dictate” who interviews him after refusing to speak to a journalist at a regional news title.

Will Hayward has claimed David TC Davies, Secretary of State for Wales, has singled him out among Wales Online colleagues, with the Tory MP saying he is “willing to be interviewed by anyone else” at the Cardiff-based website.

Will, who is Wales Online’s Welsh affairs editor, has gone public about the “bizarre” situation in a series of Twitter posts after trying to get an interview with the minister for months.

Both Mr Davies and his local Conservative Association have hit back at Will’s comments, with the latter accusing the journalist of having a ‘Prince Harry Moment’ and mocking up a spoof picture of him throwing toys out of a pram.

In the thread, Will claimed the Monmouth MP was displaying “outrageous level of entitlement” with his attitude towards the Reach plc-owned site.

He wrote: “For months I’ve been trying to get an interview with Secretary of State for Wales David Davies. However he’s refusing.

“His exact words were: ‘I’m willing to be interviewed by anyone else who works for WalesOnline but not by you.’

“This is just bizarre.”

He added: “The fact a cabinet minister thinks they can dictate who a news publication puts forward to interview them is, frankly, an outrageous level of entitlement.

“Since the autumn I have been asking for this interview.

“Mr Davies is the voice of Wales in cabinet. He is supposed to be going out to bat for the people of Wales and making sure they are represented in Westminster.

“And he has huge questions to answer.”

Mr Davies was appointed to his role in October by new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Will speculated that a Twitter thread he published at the time highlighting previous remarks made by Mr Davies about issues including climate change, child refugees and same-sex marriage may have caused the minister’s apparent one-journalist boycott at the present time.

In his tweets on Sunday, Will added: “It is shameful that our SoS is unwilling to face questions and instead wants to cherry pick his scrutiny.

“It is not a mark of a healthy democracy when ministers refuse to speak to people who hold them to account. So I am asking David Davies if he will reconsider, front up, and be interviewed by me. What has he got to be scared of?”

Speaking to HTFP, Will said: “I spent more than three months requesting interviews with Mr Davies since he took on his role in cabinet and more than once he has said that he would be willing to be interviewed by anyone else at WalesOnline other than me.

“I would not normally ever reveal the contents of private conversations between a politician and myself.

“However it is absolutely unacceptable for senior members of the UK Government to attempt to dictate which journalists news organisations put forward to scrutinise them.

“Wales is facing huge challenges and it is only right that the Secretary of State for Wales fronts up to answer questions.”

Bit of a non-story from Will Hayward as David has recently given a full interview to Martin Shipton, probably the most senior and respected political journalist in Wales and WalesOnline. Sounds like Will is having his own ‘Prince Harry moment’ ? #Monmouthshire #Wales #Spare pic.twitter.com/ZrrVD6deSt

— Monmouth Conservative Association (@MonmouthCA) January 10, 2023

Discussing the Monmouth Conservative Association tweet, above, Will added: “It seems somewhat bizarre that a member of staff, who is possibly being paid taxpayer’s money, was tasked with attempting to mock a journalist who raised serious concerns about accountability.

“Perhaps a better use of their time would be prepping Mr Davies for the requested interview? If they did wish to waste time on this at the very least they could have chosen a more flattering photo..”

A spokesperson for Mr Davies said: “The Welsh Secretary is happy to speak to reporters from Wales Online and its associated titles and most recently carried out an in-depth interview with political editor-at-large Martin Shipton which was published on 27 December.

“Mr Davies has been in private correspondence with Wales Online with concerns over some of its recent reporting, but he will continue to carry out interviews with the company’s journalists as usual.”