Three weeks ago I reported on a bitter dispute between Tribune, the voice of the Left, and the Tory party, which is offering the paper only one press pass to its party conference in Manchester. Now, however, I hear the Tories are not giving Tribune any tickets at all, on the grounds that it failed to submit the name of the reporter attending.
“The situation has become ridiculous,” says editor Chris McLaughlin, who claims the New Statesman receives four passes and The Spectator many more. McLaughlin has written to Tory chairman Grant Shapps. “This amounts to a ban on Tribune attending conference, defended by trumped-up, false claims of justification. It is an attack on press freedom and a disgrace on the Conservative Party.”
Former Tribune editor Mark Seddon concurs. “It’s ironic that the ban on Tribune comes when David Cameron is holidaying on Jura, where George Orwell — a former literary editor of Tribune — wrote 1984,” says Seddon. “In that light, the Tories might reconsider.”
A Conservative Central Office spokesman said: “We consistently offered Tribune a pass and they consistently refused to provide a name. They wouldn’t say who they wanted to be at the conference. That’s why they haven’t got a ticket.”
