It would have been Allegra Stratton’s second day of televised briefings as the prime minister’s press secretary yesterday, if the start of White House-style news conferences hadn’t been postponed. So the nation did not get to see her answering questions about one subject that particularly interested journalists, which she did on a telephone conference call instead.
“You all know how much he loves his bike,” she said, when asked if the prime minister regretted going on a bike ride in the Olympic Park in east London on Sunday. “I can’t comment on where the prime minister exercises, for security reasons,” she said when asked if he would be doing it again. “It was in accordance with the guidelines.”
She and the civil service spokesperson took it in turns to answer, or not to answer, questions such as: was Boris Johnson driven to the Olympic Park, seven miles from Downing Street; will the government be issuing a more specific definition of what “local” means in the guidance about staying local; was there anyone with him on a bike in the park; can anyone go to someone else’s garden for exercise, in the way the prime minister goes to the garden of Buckingham Palace?
