Lobby briefings may be televised

US-style televised briefings by the prime minister's spokesman could be introduced in the UK, No 10 has said.

The twice-daily government briefings for Parliamentary lobby journalists are currently held off-camera.

But Parliamentary journalists have set up a working group with the government to review the system.

There have been calls for televised lobby briefings for at least a decade but previous attempts to introduce them have come to nothing.

In a joint statement, the prime minister's official spokesman Simon Lewis and the chairman of the Parliamentary lobby, Jean Eaglesham, of the Financial Times, said a review was needed "in light of the changes in the reporting of the work of government in an increasingly fast-moving and online media world".

'Secrecy'

The working group, which is made up of six lobby journalists and five members of the government communications staff, will meet in the run-up to Christmas with the aim of producing changes that can be implemented in the new year.

It will examine the current operation and working practices of lobby briefings, how to deal with the growing importance of television and online media and make recommendations on how to provide a wider range of government contributions to the daily briefings.

Traditionally, briefings by the prime minister's spokesman were held entirely off-the-record, with journalists not permitted to say where the information they were given had come from. It was normally attributed to a "friend of the prime minister" or "sources close to the prime minister".

That system was changed in 2000 by Tony Blair's director of communications, Alastair Campbell, who gave journalists permission to use his name and describe him as the prime minister's official spokesman.

But moves towards daily televised briefings - of the kind seen for decades in the US - were dropped in favour of the prime minister's monthly televised press conferences.

A report in January, by the House of Lords communications committee, recommended a move to daily televised briefings.

It said the current Westminster lobby system, where the prime minister's spokesman give journalists access to government information, was a "barrier to openness".

Broadcasting the sessions would help to "dispel the myths" and the "sense of secrecy" surrounding them, the report said.

The lobby is the name given to the small group of journalists who enjoy privileged access to certain parts of Parliament, including the Members' Lobby, where they can get information from MPs, normally on the understanding that the source will not be revealed.

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