Kemi Badenoch’s ‘Free Speech’ Conservatives Ban Byline Times From Party Conference
The ban on covering the party’s annual gathering came despite Badenoch’s repeated commitment to “fight” for free speech and a free press
The Conservative party, whose leader Kemi Badenoch has repeatedly pledged to fight for “free speech”, has banned Byline Times from attending her party’s annual conference.
The party gave no explanation for the ban, but a Conservative official said that the decision had been taken by “our media team”.
The ban comes despite Byline Times having previously been approved to cover the Conservative conference under the leadership of Badenoch’s predecessors Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
As a member of Parliament’s press lobby I have also attended conference under the leaderships of Theresa May and David Cameron. At no point over those more than ten years were any complaints made to me, or any issue raised about my attendance at the annual event.
A spokesperson said in a statement: “I’m sorry to inform you that your media registration has not been approved by our media team this year. This decision was made following a thorough review of all accreditation requests, and I understand that this may be disappointing news—particularly given your longstanding attendance and engagement with the event.
“We genuinely value your past participation and the coverage you’ve provided over the years. Please be assured that the decision was not taken lightly.”
The ban comes despite Bandeoch’s repeated commitments to upholding free speech and support for a free press.
“Free speech is a Conservative principle and is under threat”, Badenoch said earlier this year, insisting that “we must fight for it”.
“Silencing free speech harms democracy, culture and individual resilience.”
The ban follows this news organisation last year revealing how Conservative party councillors had posed for the cameras as supposedly ordinary workers in order to ask questions of Rishi Sunak during a televised election campaign event.
We also revealed in 2023 how the party had secretly exempted selected media organisations from its previous plans to charge journalists for attending its conference. The money-raising plans were later withdrawn entirely.
A leading free speech campaign group described the decision to ban Byline Times from the Conservative conference as "concerning".
"Concerning news that the Conservatives led by Kemi Badenoch have banned Byline Times from attending their annual conference - ironically amid the party's claim to uphold free speech," a spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the Conservative leader was contacted for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.
The ban follows a series of other media organisations also being banned from covering the upcoming Reform UK conference.
Like the Conservatives, Nigel Farage's party have also made protecting "free speech" a central campaigning issue.
The Reform leader was confronted at a US congressional hearing about free speech on Wednesday, after his party banned a series of critical news organisations, including New World and DeSmog from covering its own party conference. Byline Times has previously also been blocked from attending the party’s events.
Asked about the bans, Farage boasted about the number of questions he takes at press conferences, while failing to deal with questions about all the news organisations banned from ever asking questions at them, saying only that “somebody else” may have banned
