Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives Block Byline Times From Conference After Condemning Reform for Journalist Ban

Byline Times’ chief reporter has been blocked from attending the Conservative Party conference, just weeks after leader Kemi Badenoch called Reform’s decision to bar several journalists from their own conference “authoritarian” and an attack on the “free press”.

Josiah Mortimer was told by a party official on Tuesday (29 September): “I regret to inform you that approval has not been granted by the Conservative Party, and as such, your application has been unsuccessful.” The email gave no specific reasons. Mortimer has reported on dozens of political conferences and the ban comes within days of the event starting this Sunday.

The decision was condemned by the National Union of Journalists and Index on Censorship as an attack on press freedom.

It comes after the Conservative leader hit out at Nigel Farage’s party earlier this month for rejecting several reporters who had investigated Reform UK from their annual gathering.

Badenoch said at the time: “I think you could…[see] what kind of government they would be – authoritarian and using state power actually to pursue opponents is what they’ve effectively been threatening.

“We believe in free speech. We believe in a free press. And yes, of course, that might be painful for us as politicians, but public scrutiny is part of the gig. If Nigel Farage can’t handle difficult questions about his dodgy £5m then he shouldn’t be a politician,” she said.

However, the remarks rang hollow even then, coming after her party blocked this outlet’s political editor Adam Bienkov, and the late parliamentary correspondent David Hencke, from attending in 2025. Hencke had attended the Conservative conference for decades for outlets including Byline Times and the Guardian. The Conservatives have not responded to Bienkov’s application to attend this year’s event.

Then and now, the party gave no explanation for the ban, but a Conservative official said last September that the decision had been taken by “our media team”.

The apparent blacklisting comes despite Byline Times having previously been approved to cover Conservative conference under the leadership of Badenoch’s predecessors Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, as we reported last time.

Conservative conference is in Birmingham, running from Sunday 4 October to Wednesday 7 October.

In the US, President Trump’s move to strip three outlets of their White House access (CNN, MS Now and Politico) led to US television networks suspending their pooled coverage of Trump, in a coordinated show of solidarity that included even Fox News.

Such walkouts are largely unheard of in the UK, meaning political parties may calculate that they can afford to be picky about which outlets attend their events.

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Press Freedom Concerns

Laura Davison, general secretary of Mortimer’s union the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), said: “Further reports of political parties refusing journalists access to their conferences raise serious questions about the state of press freedom in the UK.

“The Conservative Party appears to have rejected media passes to journalists from Byline Times without explanation. This follows the banning of journalists at both the Labour and Reform UK party conferences, and of Byline Times journalists at the Conservative Party conference last year.”

The NUJ leader says political parties should not “pick and choose” which journalists and publications are able to question and scrutinise them.

“Excluding legitimate newsgatherers from party conferences without clear and transparent reasons risks undermining trust in politics and people’s ability to access reporting from a diversity of sources,” she added.

Nik Williams of Index on Censorship said: “Tory leader Kemi Badenoch made significant hay calling out Reform UK for banning journalists from their party conference and now she appears to be following suit. This suggests she is more interested in scoring political points than standing up for media freedom.

“The fact that banning journalists from party conferences with no explanation appears to be catching and increasingly normalised is a shocking indictment of the current status of accountability and transparency in British politics.”

The NUJ general secretary urged the Conservative Party to “explain why Byline Times journalists have been denied accreditation and to rethink its decision”.

“Once again, the union calls on all political parties to uphold press freedom, freedom of expression and the public’s right to be informed.”

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Rejection Email in Full

Dear Josiah,

Thank you for your application to attend the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.

I regret to inform you that approval has not been granted by the Conservative Party, and as such, your application has been unsuccessful. A refund will be issued and should be received within five working days.

If you wish to appeal this decision , please provide additional evidence or context as grounds for reconsideration. please direct your appeal in the first instance to [the chairman].

This will allow for a thorough review before a final determination is made.

Should the decision be upheld following your appeal, any further questions regarding this outcome can be directed to the Police National Accreditation Team at [email].

For other queries, please contact [the chairman].

Regards

Registration Team

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