Rishi Sunak bans media from Conservative Party’s spring conference

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Rishi Sunak bans media from Conservative Party’s spring conference

Rishi Sunak has banned the media from the Conservative party's spring conference, with his appearance and business day behind closed doors.

The prime minister was due to give a speech and host drinks with party activists at the conference in Birmingham, the second largest gathering of the party in the political year. The press and the public were not allowed to attend the business day on Friday at 500 a ticket, with the promise of a day of networking and highly interactive sessions between business leaders and government ministers During the business day, the chancellor, Andrew Griffith, gave his outlook on the state of the economy after inflation soared above 10% again, as the party claimed it was an internal event closed to media.

Boris Johnson gave a speech last year in Blackpool that caused controversy when he appeared to compare the struggle of Ukrainians for freedom in the war with Russia with Britain leaving the EU.

The previous party leaders have also given important speeches at the spring conference, with David Cameron and Theresa May often using the televised occasions as a way of speaking to the country as well as the party.

In its brochure for the event, the party described the event as the most important two days of the next general election campaign so far, but said it was a bit different this year. Some of the sessions for members include advice on raising money, seal deal with donors and Our Plan to get it done: you ve said you ll do it, now get it done! A Conservative party spokeswoman said the conference was only a training event for members this year. Spring Forum 2023 is a training event focused on 80: 20 seats. He said it would be unusual for a political party to invite the press to an internal training event.

Steve Goodrich of Transparency International UK said: Parties often sell privileged political access at their conferences, allowing private interests to lobby ministers and senior party figures, so they could at least keep these jamborees open to media scrutiny on the public s behalf.

Journalists are an important part of the process of informing the public about how our democracy works. We're all in the dark about access and potential influence in the UK politics when we close the door to them.