Since September, Grant Shapps and Mark Harper have appeared on morning TV and radio shows – such as Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley – more than any other ministers.
By Sam Coates, deputy political editor and Isobel Losseff
Grant Shapps and Mark Harper are the most trusted public faces of this government, according to new research for the Politics at Jack and Sam’s podcast.
On this week’s edition of the Sky News and Politico podcast we reveal which members of the cabinet are put up for the daily breakfast round – appearing on TV and radio breakfast shows, including Sky’s Breakfast with Kay Burley, to represent the government.
The new league table looks at media appearances – from September to last Friday – finds Mr Shapps, who was energy then defence secretary, and Mr Harper, the transport secretary are joint top.
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James Cleverly, who was foreign secretary and now is home secretary, just behind.
At the other end of the scale three cabinet ministers are chosen to appear by Number 10 relatively infrequently – below some figures who are not in the cabinet.
Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary, and Michael Gove, appear surprisingly infrequently.
Ms Keegan was caught on camera swearing and suggesting she wasn’t getting credit for doing a good job in the aftermath of the Raac concrete scandal, while Gove – once a stalwart of the studios – appears less often.
In his October appearance, he surprised some by floating income or national insurance tax cuts before the election at a time when the Chancellor was saying he could not contemplate tax cuts.
Mr Gove went on to be vindicated in the autumn statement, when there was the big national insurance tax cut, although some felt the headlines at the time unhelpful.
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Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, appeared even fewer times than Keegan, Frazer and Gove, though often organised her own media with a series of controversial overseas trips.
The prime minister and chancellor cannot be judged by this metric since they do not routinely do the morning round.
Men make up three quarter of the appearances by Tories on the morning round.
Sky analysis suggests that women are put on the morning round proportionately fewer times than the proportion of women in the cabinet.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
