The main event with Trump and Starmer will be their joint press conference to wrap up the president’s meeting with the prime minister – and now there is an Australian drama over who is in the room.
The ABC has been told it cannot be in the press conference as one of the small group of international media allowed in the room, and this has sparked instant speculation that it is linked to Trump’s clash this week with the ABC correspondent John Lyons.
Donald Trump speaks to journalists during his testy confrontation with the ABC’s John Lyons on Wednesday.Credit: AP
Starmer’s office made the call about who could be in the press conference, and it has mentioned weather and logistics as factors. There are only five international media in the main press conference, given that this is a bilateral meeting and almost all the positions go to the British media and a phalanx of visiting American journalists.
There is an overflow room where journalists gain access to Chequers, the prime minister’s official home outside London, and will be able to watch the press conference, but without a chance to ask questions. This is expected to have at least a dozen international media.
Some learned about their positions on the evening before the Chequers meeting – for instance, that they would be in the overflow room rather than the main event.
Another media outlet, Al Jazeera, has also been bumped. Its correspondent in London, Rory Challands, posted on X to say he had been told, like the ABC, that he was being taken off the press conference list for logistical reasons and that the weather was mentioned.
All this adds to the story of Trump’s combative relationship with the media when there has been process at the White House since January to place friendlier journalists in the press pool to ask easier questions.
The ABC says it is still accredited to attend Chequers, but it says Downing Street said it no longer had a position at the joint press conference due to logistics.
“We have been given no indication this is connected to the questions put to President Trump by ABC Americas editor John Lyons this week.”