The Guardian

Closed doors Sunak to hold spring conference in private

Rowena Mason Whitehall editor

Rishi Sunak has banned the media from the Conservative party’s spring conference, with his appearance and a business day to be held behind closed doors.

The prime minister was due to hold a Q&A and host drinks with party activists at the conference in Birmingham – the party’s second biggest gathering in the political year.

However, the press and public, apart from Tory members, were barred from attending, with the party claiming it was an “internal event closed to media”.

Business leaders were also invited to attend a business day yesterday at £500 a ticket, with promises of a “day of networking and highly interactive sessions between business leaders and government ministers”.

During the business day, the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, was interviewed by one of his Treasury ministers, Andrew Griffith, giving his outlook on the state of the economy after inflation rose above 10% again.

The spring conference is often a major event in the political calendar. Last year Boris Johnson gave a speech in Blackpool that caused controversy when he appeared to compare the struggle of Ukrainians for freedom in the war with Russia to Britain’s decision to leave the EU. David Cameron and Theresa May used the televised occasions as a way of speaking to the country as well as the party.

In its brochure for the event, billed as its “spring forum”, the party described it as “the most important two days of the next general election campaign so far”, but said it was “a little bit different this year”. Some of the sessions for members include advice on “raising money – how to seal deal with donors”.

A Conservative party spokesperson said the conference this year was a “training event” for members. “It would be highly unusual for a political party to invite the press to an internal training event,” he said.

Steve Goodrich of Transparency International UK said: “Journalists are crucial to informing the public about how our democracy works. Closing the door to them keeps us all in the dark about access and potential influence in UK politics.”

National | Politics

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2023-03-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://guardian.pressreader.com/article/281672554192987

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