What the PM's spokesman said next

Lobby briefings for all

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 1st March 2004 15:15 GMT

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Britain's murky political reporting could become a little clearer, courtesy of a website which publishes unedited transcripts of lobby briefings.

These are the twice-daily press conferences conducted by the prime minister's official spokesman in front of a select audience of journalists. But now an unspun transcript of what he says is to be available to anyone at DowningStreetSays.com.

Visitors will see a selection of recent lobby briefings and can post comments. Today's highlights include comments and debate on Katharine Gun, Clare Short and Libya. The website is to publish transcripts of the prime minister's press conferences too.

DowningStreetSays.com was created by volunteers under the wing of mySociety.org. James Cronin, chairman, said: "If you do a Google search on Clare Short it is ten pages before you see the actual government response - that's crazy. We want the press to acknowledge their sources and the public to see this information in an easily accessible way."

mySociety.org aims to create websites on the cheap which have "strong, real world benefits ...at very low cost per person served". Previous projects include faxyourMP.com and PublicWhip.org.uk. ®