Rishi Sunak has axed the daily appearances by ministers on breakfast TV and radio.
The PM will no longer allow for his frontbenchers to be grilled on behalf of the government every weekday morning.
Until now, one minister has been chosen by No10 each day to answer questions on popular programmes including BBC Breakfast, Good Morning Britain and BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.
The Mirror understands the government will now only provide a minister to be interviewed around three mornings a week. They will focus on days when they have an announcement.
A Tory source said they would be "flexible" and put ministers on the airwaves when "there is something relevant to talk about" or "the public need to hear from government".
But the decision will prompt accusations that Mr Sunak is running scared of scrutiny.
His first month as PM has been dominated by scandals involving his ministers.
Gavin Williamson resigned from Cabinet after just two weeks as faced bullying claims.
Deputy PM Dominic Raab is going to be investigated after two formal complaints were made about his behaviour towards staff.
And Mr Sunak has been criticised for appointing Suella Braverman as Home Secretary just six days after she was sacked from the job for leaking. The minister, nicknamed “Leaky Sue” now faces questions over her shambolic handling of the immigration situation, as record numbers of people make dangerous Channel crossings.
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 Kay 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.
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