Boris Johnson was right about the need for daily press briefings – his U-turn is shameful

Consistency of time and place can only be an improvement when it comes to government communication, writes Mary Dejevsky

The new media room reportedly cost £2.6m, and has been criticised as much for the waste as for its aesthetics (PA)

Boris Johnson has drawn much flak for the “media room” he has installed, expensively, at No 9 Downing Street, especially now he has given up on the reason for its existence: his plan for White-House style daily briefings.

Allegra Stratton, the former television journalist and media adviser appointed as spokesperson, has been shunted off to front the UK’s big end-of-year event, the climate crisis summit, Cop26. Will she stay the course?

Now, I am happy to join the chorus of those denouncing the “media room” on aesthetic grounds. That strange brand of “royal” blue seems crass. If the backdrop had to be blue (like the new Brexit Britain passports), maybe navy, or the light, Cambridge, blue would have been preferable; the lecterns are somehow not quite right. If only it had more style.