On the Ground

Inside the notebook of Josiah Mortimer, Chief Reporter

Capital ‘H’ for Hypocrisy

When Kemi Badenoch railed against Reform UK’s “authoritarian” blocking of journalists from its conference this summer, we rather hoped she might U-turn on her party’s own decision to bar Byline Times from the Conservatives’ gathering. No such luck.

Almost as concerning: barely a single fellow journalist batted an eyelid. When CNN and Politico were recently barred from Trump’s White House, even Fox News walked out in protest. Over here, I counted three who spoke up – hats off to Hugo Gye of the Economist, David Maddox at The Independent, and (most persistently) James O’Brien at LBC.