Rishi Sunak faces a new breakfast telly row as he cuts short interviews with ministers.
The Mirror revealed last week frontbenchers will only go on shows, such as Good Morning Britain, around three mornings a week,
Now it can be revealed No10 has slashed the amount of time presenters get to ask questions on the days they do agree to appear.
Broadcasters, which previously had as long as 15 to 20 minutes each, have been instructed they must limit their interviews to just eight minutes.
The decision will fuel criticism that the PM is dodging scrutiny.
In his first speech outside No10, Mr Sunak pledged: “This government will have integrity, professionalism, and accountability at every level.”
Until now, one minister has been chosen by No10 each day to answer questions on morning programmes, also including BBC Breakfast, Radio 4’s Today programme, Sky News’s Kay Burley show and LBC’s Nick Ferrari at Breakfast.
They will now focus on days when they have something specific to announce.
Lorraine Kelly is among those to have condemned Mr Sunak for axing the daily appearances by ministers.
The breakfast telly legend said the government needs to be held “accountable” for how it is running the country.
She told Times Radio’s Matt Chorley: “I don’t think that’s right because you have got to be accountable, you really do.”
Susanna Reid, the presenter of Good Morning Britain, said the decision to stop daily interviews is a “huge mistake”.
When Boris Johnson was in No10, certain outlets were boycotted by his ministers for periods of time, but they still appeared on most other breakfast and TV programmes.
In the wake of the 2019 election, the Tories stopped ministers appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme as punishment for the corporation’s election coverage. The boycott came to an end after three months when the coronavirus pandemic took hold in March 2020.
A month later ministers withdrew from interviews on Good Morning Britain following a series of heated exchanges with presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid over their handling of the pandemic. The boycott lasted 201 days, before No10 backed down.
Sky News’s Mrs Burley also faced a short boycott after she interviewed an empty chair in protest at then Tory chairman James Cleverly not appearing on her programme.
Rishi Sunak has axed daily TV interviews: Follow Mirror Politics on TikTok here.
