Declassified’s reporter John McEvoy will not be allowed into the ruling party’s gathering when it starts in Liverpool on Sunday, Labour officials have decided.
The move has drawn condemnation from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Reporters Without Borders.
It comes weeks after McEvoy exposed the influence of super-rich party donors and pro-Israel lobby groups over Keir Starmer’s cabinet.
Fiona O’Brien, UK director of Reporters Without Borders, commented: “For democracy to function, journalists must be allowed to report on matters of public interest – which includes party conferences.
“It’s therefore alarming to hear that an accredited journalist has had his request for a pass to Labour’s conference denied, without a satisfactory explanation.
“If the new government is really committed to open democracy, it needs to guarantee fair and free access to the political process for a wide range of media, not just for the mainstream.”
David Ayrton, a senior organiser at the NUJ, echoed O’Brien’s concerns.
Ayrton said: “It is important to uphold press freedom and therefore it is an imperative that bona fide news gatherers and journalists, such as John McEvoy, are not excluded from events such as the Labour party conference.
“It is imperative that the Labour party, as a key component of political life in Britain, notwithstanding the fact that they are the governing party, seek to uphold the principles associated with the free operation of the media.
“Such a stance integrally entails the need to facilitate those who may be critical when they seek to operate legitimately in their work as a professional journalist.”
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Liverpool-based McEvoy applied for a press pass on 25 August and paid a £90 application fee.
Labour acknowledged receipt and said “Your application will now go through a series of security checks.”
On 3 September, Labour told McEvoy he would not be receiving a pass, saying: “Media passes are for accredited journalists and photographers with a relevant portfolio only.
“We reserve the right to reject an application if we cannot find any evidence the applicant is a working journalist or photographer with a political portfolio or working on behalf of a relevant media outlet.”
McEvoy appealed with help from the NUJ, who confirmed he was an accredited journalist, but to no avail.
The party has ignored their emails, although the £90 fee has been refunded.
Yesterday Labour’s press office gave Declassified’s editor a new reason for refusing McEvoy’s pass.
It said: “Media passes are finite for Labour’s Annual Conference and we have determined to uphold the original decision.”
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Labour’s rejection is in sharp contrast to the Liberal Democrats, who gave Declassified a media pass for its conference in Brighton this week.
Sir Vince Cable, a former Lib Dem leader, granted us an on-camera interview about his time in charge of arms sales to the Middle East when he was business secretary in the coalition government.
Barring McEvoy puts Labour in the same class as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which refused us access to its conference in Birmingham today. The Conservative Party, which has previously blocked Declassified, is still reviewing our application.
Labour does welcome certain media outlets to its conference. Sky News is hosting a “one-to-one interview” with defence secretary John Healey “to discuss priorities and challenges in defence and security”.
The event is sponsored by BAE Systems, Britain’s largest arms firm. It makes the rear fuselage for the F-35 fighter jet. Labour is allowing the company to keep exporting F-35 parts to Israel via the US.
Arms corporations Northrop Grumman and Babcock are also sponsoring fringe events at this year’s conference, hosted by the New Statesman magazine. Both of the companies have links to the Israeli arms trade.
Another session will see the Financial Times and senior Labour MP Lucy Powell discuss “How can Labour reset standards in public life and improve trust in our politics.”
Labour has long been reluctant to grant passes to journalists known for exposing the Israel lobby, even under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
In 2019, Asa Winstanley from Electronic Intifada had his pass revoked, days after a government-funded charity published a report identifying the outlet as “the single most popular website for article shares about the subject of anti-Semitism, the Labour Party and Israel/Palestine”.
