Local lockdown to hit northeast England – but why was it first announced on TV?
Speaking too soon: Robert Jenrick announces restrictions on northeast England, on the Peston TV show.
BBC news has announced – around midday today, September 17 – that the northeast of England will be subjected to stronger Covid-19-related restrictions because of increased infections there. It’s not quite a local lockdown but close.
I knew this last night because Robert Jenrick announced it on television, on Robert Peston’s ITV political chat show.
The only reason I didn’t publish a story straight away was fatigue (I had been awake for around 19 hours on the trot by then) – and also I wanted to know what Commons Spaker Lindsay Hoyle would have to say about this breach of regulations:
Just days after the Health Secretary was told off by the Commons Speaker for announcing public health measures on TV and not in the Parliament, another cabinet minister does the exact same thing, breaking the news affecting 2m people late on Wed night on a political talkshow. https://t.co/nu9DiH2iTr
— Jakub Krupa (@JakubKrupa) September 16, 2020
This –> https://t.co/TYjTYMldoY Hope Mr Speaker Hoyle absolutely tears ministers to pieces over this.
— Antony Carpen (@ACarpenDigital) September 16, 2020
Some are saying this is another example of Dominic Cummings-style “government by media”, although I can’t see any advantage for the Tories in doing this.
Who benefits from Jenrick’s announcement, which came just 13 hours (and a bit) before the statement in Parliament?
The people of the northeast? No – the difference in timing still isn’t enough for them to properly prepare, if they need to.
The government? No – this is an admission that a government policy has failed.
Robert Jenrick? No – he was announcing something that nobody wanted and is more likely to be resented for it. In any case, he’s widely considered to be as bent as a nine-bob note (see his record of corruption on planning matters).
Robert Peston benefits, because the announcement was on his show.
But what’s the tactical advantage for the Tories? Are they trying to set up some kind of divide-and-rule rivalry between Peston and Piers Morgan, whose breakfast show can’t get government spokespeople because they’re afraid he’ll rip them to shreds?
That seems pointless because the Tories lose more than they gain, if they get another reprimand from Speaker Hoyle.
Perhaps Jenrick was speaking on his own initiative – a loose cannon, as it were.
If so, let’s hope he shot himself in the foot.
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