CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves took a visit to Scotland this week, which would have been nice for her given that Scotland’s national press weren’t invited.
Local titles got a bit of time with the Labour minister – the rest of the press were left by the wayside.
It might be one of the more cringeworthy pursuits of journalists – among a long list – but complaining about not getting invited to things is less about us feeling left out and more about basic accountability.
Sure, Reeves took questions from local titles including our stablemate the Glasgow Times – and they won’t have given her an easy time of it.
But it’s one thing facing the full force of the Holyrood lobby, quite another fielding a few questions from a handful of journalists before recording a clip for your Twitter/X account.
Less journalists, less scrutiny, not complicated. It also rather begs the question: If you’ve nothing to worry about from being questioned, why enforce artificial limits like curated invite lists?
The Worst of Westminster also hears tell that she attended a chummy dinner with the editors of some of the “tartan editions” of the big London papers while up the road.
That’s as unadventurous as going to one of those restaurants in Spain that serves Carling and roast dinners. When in Rome, I always say.
Speaking of invitations, your correspondent was surprised to have my application approved to attend Keir Starmer’s gloomy Downing Street press conference, in which he warned the country of the “pain” he was preparing to inflict.
It’s not common for The National to get accepted when we apply to go along – and we do apply.
I got back to my office in the Westminster press gallery on Tuesday after the press conference.
A colleague who works at a nearby desk and who coincidentally works for a website also called The National, based out of the United Arab Emirates, asked if I had been along.
I said I had. He said I had got his place. “When I phoned, they said they had already given a slot to The National and it was one place per outlet,” he said.
That might have explained how we got into an event Labour might otherwise have wanted us far away from.
Not that it made much difference as we failed to clear the final hurdle - getting onto the pre-picked list of journalists allowed to put questions to the PM.
You can’t say we don’t try.
You can get the Worst of Westminster delivered straight to your inboxes for FREE every Friday at 6pm by clicking here.
