Downing Street has defended a government minister who publicly called a journalist “creepy and bizarre” for asking questions about a Covid vaccines video.
Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, accused the HuffPost journalist in a Twitter thread of “making up claims” and published screenshots of questions sent to her MP’s office and to a ministerial press office, naming the reporter, Nadine White, who then received a torrent of abuse, according to HuffPost.
In her posts Badenoch said it was “creepy and bizarre to fixate on who didn’t participate in a video and demand they explain themselves”.
Quizzed over Badenoch’s actions, Allegra Stratton, Boris Johnson’s press secretary, said Badenoch had “been civil to Nadine White”.
Stratton was unable to guarantee that other journalists who send routine emails to departments would not see them publicised via Twitter, saying only that Downing Street did not object to media questions. “You know you can always come to Downing Street and we will treat your questions and your challenges, as we are doing now, as fair, and we will always try to get back to you, and give you decent answers.”
White’s emails had asked why Badenoch did not appear in the video campaign intended to encourage the take-up of the coronavirus vaccine among black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
HuffPost had not published a story connected to the questions before Badenoch tweeted to say it was because she was involved in a vaccine trial herself.
Stratton added: “She felt that questions about why she wasn’t in the video were not right when she was not in the video because she was taking part in a trial. This is a case of a misunderstanding between the two parties.”
Asked why Badenoch responded by publicising the journalist’s name and questions, Stratton said: “You’ll have to get comment from Kemi herself in terms of Kemi’s motive.”
Saying she had not talked to Johnson about the incident, Stratton appeared to defend Badenoch’s description of White’s actions as “creepy and bizarre”, saying: “I would go to the Cabinet Office and talk to Kemi Badenoch’s team. I believe that Kemi feels that she has grounds for those words.”
