Tory media crackdown or political red carpet?

The rain was just threatening as we walked in. But Manchester Central is a great place for a political conference. Having grown up not far from here in Blackburn, Burnley and Clitheroe I feel a bit sentimental about the place. GMEX, as it used to be known, hosted some almost legendary music events when I was a teenager from The Smiths (pictured) to New Order.

So walking up the steps always has a surprising sense of cool that is distinctly lacking at Birmingham’s ICC or Liverpool’s ACC. But there is a very strange new type of red carpet this year – which seems aimed at keeping the media at bay. It is an alarming development.

Manchester is a gift of a location for the media to “doorstep” politicians walking between the conference centre and the two hotels where most of them stay. It is where we all stalk cabinet and shadow cabinet types in between speeches and fringe meetings. It is where Michael Crick and Lucy Manning and their ilk run alongside people asking awkward questions. It is where David Miliband was photographed with a banana. It is where politicians refusing to speak while the cameras follow them for what feels like forever look stupid.

More from Channel 4 News: Conservative conference live blog from Manchester

So the media team in Conservative HQ have decided to create a walkway from the conference centre to the Midland Hotel. The media have been told we are not allowed within this walkway – citing “safety” as the reason. The safety they are talking about is clearly about safety from the media rather than safety from injury. The BBC’s top doorstepper has already told me he will be ignoring the rule. I suspect he will not be the only one. We have all been threatened with explusion from the conference if we do not obey the new rule. The question is who is going to blink first?

***1525 UPDATE***

The Conservative Party again insists the walkway has nothing to do with stopping the media from having access to cabinet ministers and is purely about the safety of delegates. It is also worth mentioning however that their original intention had been to ban the media from filming in the whole outside section between the conference centre and the hotels and instead have them penned into a holding area where politicians could go and talk if they wanted, or walk safely past if they preferred. That idea was abandoned a couple of weeks ago.

Follow @krishgm on Twitter.