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EXCLUSIVE: Vince's Feud With The Telegraph Continues

David Mills uncovers who reads what among government ministers.

By David Mills

8 Oct 2011, 15:14

A series of responses to Freedom of Information requests has revealed which newspapers and periodicals are delivered to Ministers’ offices.

When Ministers are appointed, a private secretary or a press officer will normally ask them which publications they would like to order in. Of course, many Ministers - especially Cabinet Ministers - are rushed off their feet, and barely get the time to read newspapers or magazines. Many will end up in the recycling bin, or will be read on the tube journey home by staff in private offices who can’t bear the waste.

Centrally-purchased newspapers are also not the only means by which Ministers also consume news and comment. Some publications – such as Total Politics – are sent free to Ministers. They can read blogs,  magazine and newspapers on their Blackberries and iPhones. They may also see press cuttings, or have articles brought to their attention by civil servants, advisers and others. There are also the weekend newspapers, which most departments do not appear to procure.

Nonetheless, the responses to the FoI requests provide a fascinating insight into Ministers' preferences.

Newspapers

Unsurprisingly, most Cabinet Ministers receive most of the main national daily newspapers, with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland offices getting their relevant national newspapers too. Very few Ministers get any non-British media - Foreign Secretary William Hague gets the International Herald Tribune, as does the Chancellor, while Europe Minister David Lidington receives Le Monde and European Voice.

The only Cabinet Minister to receive no centrally procured newspapers or journals is the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Among the rest of the Cabinet, the Daily Telegraph and The Times are the most popular newspapers. All  receive the Daily Telegraph, except for Business Secretary Vince Cable, perhaps still smarting at being recorded by their reporters last Christmas, boasting about how he had ‘declared war’ on Rupert Murdoch.

Similarly, all Cabinet Ministers (except Hunt) get The Times, apart from Defence Secretary Liam Fox.

Next most popular are The Guardian, the Daily Mail and the Financial Times.

International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell and William Hague are the only Cabinet Ministers - apart from the abstemious Jeremy Hunt - not to order The Guardian.

Andrew Mitchell and Vince Cable are able to resist the Daily Mail, while Liam Fox and Mitchell fail to take a 'Pink ‘Un'.

Fox, Cable and Transport Secretary Philip Hammond eschew The Sun and following close behind is The Independent with Fox, Hammond,  Mitchell and Hague and the Scotland Office failing to order it.

Next comes the Daily Mirror - Danny Alexander, Mitchell, Hague, Cable, Chancellor George Osborne and Philip Hammond all omit the Mirror from their order, as does the Scotland Office, though it does order the Mirror’s stablemate, the Daily Record.

Only eight Cabinet Ministers have the Daily Express on order - IDS, Lansley, Gove, Pickles, Theresa May Ken Clarke, and the Scotland and Wales Offices, whose newspapers are made available to all Ministers. There appear to be eight ‘Express-free’ departments, where no Minister of any rank receives the Daily Express: DECC, Culture, Defence, DFID, FCO, BIS, Northern Ireland and Transport.

Only two Ministers receive the Daily Star: Ken Clarke and Eric Pickles. One wonders what value they derive from it, though to be fair to Pickles, his department’s response to the FoI was the most politically savvy, pointing out that since July 2010, sets of newspapers and periodicals for ministers and special advisers had been consolidated into one shared set, saving £15,000 a year.

Bringing up the rear among the Cabinet is the 'I' newspaper, which is bought by just one department – Communities and Local Government.

Taking the Government as a whole, The Times is out on its own with 43 copies going to Ministers' offices. The Financial Times is a close second with 41 copies, while the Guardian and the Daily telegraph tie for third place on 36 copies, just one ahead of the Daily Mail on 35. The Independent seems to be more popular among junior Ministers than The Sun, nudging ahead with 30 copies to the Sun's 26, with the Mirror, Express  Star and the 'i' newspaper  bringing up the rear.

Periodicals

The Economist is by far the most popular current affairs magazine. Thirty copies are ordered by departments for Ministers, with 14 being for Cabinet Ministers or for the use of all Ministers in a department. As one might expect in a centre-right government, The Spectator is the most popular of the main political titles - 20 Ministers’ offices order a copy, of which 13 are for Cabinet Ministers. Yet the New Statesman does pretty well, with 16 copies, 11 of which go to Cabinet Ministers. Interestingly, most of the Ministers ordering the Staggers are Tories, not Liberals.

Private Eye also does well out of this government, and not just in terms of the rich seam of stories and front covers it provides: a dozen copies find their way into Ministers’ offices, 10 of which are for Cabinet Ministers or for the use of a whole department. A word of warning to Ian Hislop: one copy goes to the office of the Attorney General…

Defence Secretary Liam Fox, normally assumed to be on the right of the Conservative Party, receives a copy of the left-wing weekly Tribune (incorrectly named ‘Tribute’ in the FoI response). He is joined in his taste for Tribune by Ken Clarke, who is also the only Minister in the entire government to order a copy of Prospect. Perhaps he hides his copy of the Daily Star inside it - or vice versa?

William Hague manages without the foreign policy journal Foreign Affairs, but intriguingly, given the rumours that he covets the foreign affairs job, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell has one delivered to his office. The current Foreign Secretary does, however, get a copy of the OAG Flight Guide, presumably to help his private office to book flights for his trips around the world.

Some Ministers’ newspaper and periodical orders are so huge, one wonders whether they ever get any work done. The Ink-Stained Fingers Award goes to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, whose personal order runs to 19 newspapers and periodicals, many of them health-related. He is closely followed by Justice Secretary Ken Clarke on 17, the CLG ministerial reading collective on 16 and Education Secretary Michael Gove on 15.

The junior ministers with the biggest appetite for newsprint are Transport Minister Norman Baker and Welfare Minister Lord Freud, both of whom plough through 13 titles. Cynics might say that this reflects on their workload...

Overall, while some Ministers clearly order many more papers than they will ever read, there are very few examples of Ministers ordering periodicals beyond their immediate Ministerial responsibilities - perhaps a reflection of the post-expenses, FoI-aware world. Universities Minister David Willetts does receive the Times Literary Supplement - but as he is well-known for having two brains, maybe we should not begrudge him his mental refreshment. Many Ministers receive the relevant trade magazines for their department, but the fact that Children's Minister Sarah Teather orders Nursery World brought a smile to my face.

Several departments point out that their Ministers only receive newspapers from Monday to Thursday, or when Parliament is sitting. This sense of austerity has yet to spread to BIS, where sharing seems to be off the agenda - each of its seven Ministers orders their own copy of The Economist.


NOTE: Sadly, the department in charge of transparency - the Cabinet Office - failed to provide a full breakdown of publications for the Ministers’ covered by their FoI rules. Its initial response merely stated that “Ministers’ offices are provided with copies of the national daily newspapers, the national Sunday newspapers, the Metro and the London evening Standard, the Economist, the Spectator, the New Statesman, Private Eye and Muslim News.” Further details may emerge if the Cabinet Office provides them as a result of a request for a review of this response, but in the meantime, I have assumed that the response applies only to the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister.



Most popular UK national daily newspapers among Cabinet Ministers

The Times / Daily Telegraph – 15
Financial Times / Daily Mail / The Guardian - 14
The Sun - 13
Independent - 11
Daily Mirror - 9
Daily Express - 8
Daily Star - 2
‘i’ newspaper - 1

Most popular UK national daily newspapers among all Ministers including Cabinet Ministers

The Times – 43 copies
Financial Times – 41
The Guardian and Daily Telegraph – 36
Daily Mail – 35
The Independent – 30
The Sun – 26
Daily Mirror – 15
Daily Express – 15
Daily Star – 2
'i' newspaper - 1

Other newspapers:

International Herald Tribune – 2 copies
Daily Record – 2
Irish Independent – 2 copies (London and Belfast offices of NIO)
Irish Times – 2 copies (London and Belfast offices of NIO)
Scotsman – 1
The Herald – 1
Press and Journal – 1
The Courier – 1
Belfast Telegraph – 1
Western Mail – 1
Daily Post – 1
Irish News – 1
News Letter – 1
European Voice – 1
Le Monde - 1

Most popular current affairs / political periodicals among Ministers

1. Economist - 30 copies, 14 of which are for Cabinet Ministers or whole department
Huhne, Duncan Smith, Fox, Mitchell, Lansley,  Gove, Pickles, Cable, Osborne, Paterson (NIO), Clarke, Hammond, Cameron, Clegg, Freud, Vaizey, Harvey, Duncan, O’Brien, Browne, Willetts, Hayes, Prisk, Wilcox, Davey, Damian Green, Herbert, Lord Green, Brokenshire, Villiers

2. Spectator - 20 copies,  13 of which are for Cabinet Ministers or whole department
Huhne, Duncan Smith, Fox, Hague, Lansley, Gove, Pickles, Osborne, Paterson, Clarke, Hammond, Cameron, Clegg, Damian Green, Willetts, Hayes, Harvey, Browne, Freud, Vaizey

3. New Statesman - 16 copies, 11 of which are for Cabinet Ministers or whole department
Duncan Smith, Fox, Hague, Lansley, Gove, Pickles, Osborne, Clarke, Hammond, Cameron, Clegg, Browne, Howell, Green, Brokenshire, Hayes,

4. Private Eye - 12 copies, 10 of which are for Cabinet Ministers or whole department
Grieve, Fox, Mitchell, Hague, Gove, Cable, Osborne, Clarke, Cameron, Clegg, Baker, Harvey
 
5. Newsweek - 2 copies, both for Cabinet Ministers
Duncan Smith, Hammond

6. Tribune - 2 copies, both for Cabinet Ministers
Fox, Clarke

7.The Week - 2 copies, neither for a Cabinet Minister
O’Brien, Herbert

9=.Foreign Affairs - 1 copy, for a Cabinet Minister
Mitchell

9=.Time Magazine - 1 copy for a Cabinet Minister
Duncan Smith

9=.Prospect - 1 copy for a Cabinet Minister
Clarke


Other periodicals

Times Educational Supplement – 6
Vacher's Quarterly – 6
Health Service Journal – 4
New Scientist – 3
Local Government Chronicle – 3
Community Care – 2
Police Review – 2
Nursing Standard – 2
Nursing Times – 2
GP Magazine – 2
Pulse – 2
Times Higher Educational Supplement – 2
British Medical Journal – 1
BMA News – 1
Stage - 1
Broadcast – 1
Art – 1
Nursery World – 1
Transport Times – 1
Campaign – 1
Poverty – 1
Municipal Journal – 1
Times Literary Supplement – 1
Rail Magazine – 1
Modern Railways – 1
Rail Professional – 1
Rail Staff News – 1
Lloyds List – 1
Holyrood Magazine – 1
Scottish Business Insider – 1
OAG Flight Guide – 1
Local Transport Today – 1
Archbold News -
Civil Procedure News - 1
Counsel Magazine - 1
Criminal Appeal Reports - 1
Criminal Appeal Reports (Sentencing) - 1
Criminal Law Week - 1
Criminal Law and Justice Weekly - 1
Law Society Gazette - 1
Media Lawyer - 1
New Law Journal -1

NB - The Cabinet Office says that Ministers are provided with copies of Muslim News, London Evening Standard and Metro, though it's not clear to which Ministers this applies.