Sir Keir Starmer and Ministers to Hold Regular News Conferences in Radical Communications Overhaul
On 18 December 2025, Sir Keir Starmer and ministers announced a significant overhaul of government communications set to begin in January. The new system will introduce regular morning news conferences open to lobby journalists, sector journalists, and content creators. This marks a change from the current daily afternoon briefings held by the prime minister's spokesperson, which will be discontinued.
Instead, there will be occasional afternoon press conferences where ministers announce new policies and answer questions, alongside occasional technical briefings focusing on policy announcements. The reforms are led by Downing Street communications director Tim Allan, who stated the changes aim to make the communications process more efficient and informative.
Despite these intentions, the announcement faced criticism from lobby journalists who argue that access and scrutiny will be restricted and expressed concern they were not consulted. Additionally, Downing Street will control the timetable and the selection of questions during ministerial press conferences, raising transparency concerns especially given the timing shortly before Parliament's Christmas break.
The government maintains that these moves will better serve journalists and inform the public by concentrating on main government announcements. However, the Conservative Party criticized the changes, with a spokesperson claiming that Labour is avoiding scrutiny and promising to reverse the reforms and reinstate the afternoon lobby briefings if they win power. Notably, the government did not provide a formal definition for "content creator" included in the new communications model.
