Why are the Covid press briefings dominated by men?

With a year’s worth of experience, it looks like the political debate on the response to Covid-19 could have done with more female voices, writes Sean O’Grady

Boys’ club: Boris Johnson flanked by Patrick Vallance, left, and Chris Whitty (PA)

A year on from the first lockdown, and the old firm make another not-quite-celebratory appearance at a Downing Street Covid-19 press briefing. The prime minister, with his principal lieutenants, the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, aka the two gentlemen of corona, reprised their triple act, for the benefit of a nation roughly where it started, in lockdown. They are older, wiser and and no doubt chastened by the ordeals of the past 12 months (during which Boris Johnson and Whitty caught Covid). Another year over, and what have the press conferences done?

In the earliest days of the pandemic they played a vital role in public education and accountability, as the officials and the prime minister were subjected to daily questioning about this mysterious and terrifying new virus. The cast list gradually developed, with other clinicians and showings and alternative ministers leading proceedings, but up until June they were held every day. After that the frequency was gradually wound down as the first lockdown was relaxed, adding perhaps to a false sense of security during the summer of 2020. In due course, through the tier system and then the second full lockdown the frequency has picked up, though weekend sessions (as with the announcement of lockdown number 2) are rare and they are kept to a half an hour, compared with an hour plus in the early days.

The first press conference was in fact held on 16 March last year, by Johnson, Whitty and Vallance. Johnson asked for voluntary self-isolation, and a few days later expressed the hope that the coronavirus tide would be turned in 12 weeks. Those were the days. Mostly they have been informative rather than sensational, and the advisers have mostly refrained from taking the opportunity to publicly chastise ministers.

Whitty and Vallance ducked out of one of the performances during the Dominic Cummings controversy, and last autumn chose to appear on their own when they effectively called for a second full lockdown. Only Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer, has been a bit edgy in his remarks in front of his political masters, as well as favouring folksy football analogies.

And “masters” they invariably are. Despite the shifting personnel over the twelve months, the Downing Street media briefings remain very male-dominated affairs, as does the wider political debate on Covid, because the politicians are almost exclusively men.

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The female officials attending the briefings keep the gender balance to vaguely respectable levels – around 40 per cent, and prevent them turning into a tedious festival of patriarchy. Figures such as Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer for England, Angela McLean, deputy chief scientific adviser, Ruth May, chief nurse, and Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser to Public Health England are some of the more prominent attendees (though May confirmed she’d been dropped for a briefing for fear she’d be critical during the Dominic Cummings affair).

By contrast, the only female cabinet minister to lead the briefings has been Priti Patel, home secretary, who has appeared on a mere three occasions over the last year – and that’s that for female representation. Otherwise the briefings have been dominated for, obvious reasons by Matt Hancock, Johnson, Rishi Sunak and then a longer tail of bit-part players, depending on the issues at hand – Gavin Williamson (schools), Grant Shapps (travel), Robert Jenrick (local councils), Oliver Dowden (the arts) and so on. Michael Gove used to appear more than he does these days. Since his appointment as “vaccines minister”, Nadhim Zahawi has been a more familiar voice on the airways.

It does reflect the male domination of the scene. According to a study published by King’s College London last October: “In the UK only four of the top 20 most mentioned British politicians are female. This is despite the fact that, at 34 per cent female, the UK has the most gender-balanced parliament on record, and reflects the numerical dominance of men in Boris Johnson’s cabinet. Only Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, Patel, former prime minister Theresa May and health minister Nadine Dorries make it into the top 20.”

The other women of the day, the likes of Liz Kendall and Rosena Allin-Khan, shadow health ministers, Helen Whately, junior health minister, and Therese Coffey, work and pensions secretary, seem to get less exposure combined than “yesterday’s men”, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and Tony Blair, enjoy. Allin-Khan had to endure being patronised by Hancock in the Commons when he told her, a practising doctor, to mind her tone. Other leading females in the Covid story, such as Baroness (Dido) Harding (test and trace) and Kate Bingham (vaccine task force) tend not to go looking for publicity, it’s fair to say.

The exception, as noted, is Scotland, where Nicola Sturgeon has insisted on leading the daily press conferences, when she’s not in parliament, for virtually the entire period. This has been much to the chagrin of her political opponents who claim that the lunchtime “shows” constitute a party political broadcast for the SNP. Against that, in gender terms, it has to be also noted that her chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, was an early casualty of a busting-lockdown hypocrisy scandal, which tilted the media stats back towards the men. In Wales the relevant personalities are also mostly male, though Northern Ireland is blessed by the co-leadership of Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill, quite a change from the province’s traditionally extremely macho culture.

Like many other aspects of national life, Covid has pointed a spotlight onto aspects of society that were always there but not so obviously illuminated in all their glaring embarrassment. With a year’s worth of experience, it looks like the political debate on the response to Covid could have done with more female voices.