Boris Johnson is supposed to be ‘media savvy’. Yet the new prime minister had Welsh media journalists shut in a tin shed during his first visit to Wales at Shervington Farm near Newport on 30 July.
“Tightly controlled”
BBC journalist Felicity Evans added:
On Boris Johnson’s first visit to Wales as PM, BBC Wales News and ITV Wales are refused the opportunity to ask him a single question on camera
Channel 4 News also described Johnson’s visit as “tightly controlled”. Nonetheless, according to the National, onlookers booed the Conservative leader as he met Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford in Cardiff before heading to the farm.
There’s also tension between the two leaders, given Johnson is steaming ahead towards a ‘no-deal’ Brexit while Drakeford says the outcome would be “catastrophic” for Welsh industry.
Suppressing the media
Johnson’s treatment of even the pro-establishment media harks back to Theresa May’s 2017 general election campaign.
Take Harrow, London, where the former prime minister reportedly refused to take questions from anyone other than handpicked journalists. Or there was Cornwall on 2 May 2017, when local paper Cornwall Live reported:
Media were locked in a room and banned from filming.
The apparently fearful control was a constant theme. Sky News political editor Beth Rigby summed up the undemocratic campaign:
May, in the most controlled election campaign I've ever seen, tells party they have to get out on streets. I've not seen her meet 1 voter
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) May 8, 2017
A 2019 general election, please
Just 0.13% of the public has voted for Johnson to be prime minister. So bring on a general election.
If Johnson can’t even handle speaking to the pro-establishment BBC, he’s toast.
Featured image via YouTube – Channel 4 News
