Keir Starmer, the front-runner in the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn as the Labour Party leader, on Tuesday published a letter urging the head of the civil service, Mark Sedwill, to investigate reports that certain members of the media were excluded from a briefing from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's chief Europe adviser David Frost
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2020) Keir Starmer, the front-runner in the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn as the Labour Party leader, on Tuesday published a letter urging the head of the civil service, Mark Sedwill, to investigate reports that certain members of the media were excluded from a briefing from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's chief Europe adviser David Frost.
On Monday, the HuffPost UK portal reported that its own reporter, and other journalists from the i newspaper, the Mirror, the Independent, PA Media, and PoliticsHome were excluded from a briefing for political editors. According to the portal, reporters walked out of Downing Street after a confrontation with communications director Lee Cain.
"The actions of the Prime Minister's Director of Communications, who is a political appointee, are deeply disturbing. I am concerned that they have undermined the civil service's ability to comply with its core values of integrity, objectivity and impartiality. Equally banning sections of the media from attending important briefings about important matters of government is damaging to democracy," Starmer said in a letter to Sedwill, which he later published on Twitter.
The front-runner in the Labour leadership race called on Sedwill to investigate the incident and provide assurances that such a matter would not occur again in the future. He also stated that he was making the letter public as the incident was in the public's interest.
After a devastating loss in December's general election, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn announced that he would not lead the party into another election. Keir Starmer, who serves as shadow Brexit secretary, is currently the favorite to replace Corbyn as leader, after receiving the most nominations in the first round of the leadership contest. The result of the leadership election will be released on April 4.
