Blair to hold open press conferences, Bush-style

Tony Blair will try to underline the Government's fresh attempt to abandon "spin" next week by holding a White House-style press conference at Downing Street. The question-and-answer session will be the first of series of similar events to replace the usual briefing by his official spokesmen.

To get his message across more directly to the media, Mr Blair will take queries on any subject from journalists in his first open press conference since the election last year.

Just as in Washington, the event is expected to be televised live and present a rare chance to question the Prime Minister in person. If the weather is fine it may be held in the Downing Street rose garden, but the venue is more likely to be the state dining room.

Mr Blair's advisers are confident his decision will prove his willingness to concentrate on substance rather than spin. The Prime Minister's appearances, which will be monthly, presage a wider reform by Downing Street to widen lobby briefings to include all British and foreign journalists.

From the autumn, cabinet ministers as well as Mr Blair will attend regular press conferences to take questions on issues of the day. Senior sources said the move to put Mr Blair in front of a frequently hostile press is part of the Government's drive to achieve a "new settlement" with the media.

But critics say that Labour tried a similar strategy after the 1997 general election, with the Prime Minister attending question-and-answer sessions with the public. The sessions were meant to compensate for the reduction of Prime Minister's Question Time in the Commons from twice to once a week, but after the media lost interest, they were dropped.

The Government is trying to shed its reputation for media manipulation, with the Labour chairman, Charles Clarke, accusing the press of trying to undermine respect for democracy by its focus on the issue.

Mr Blair's official spokes-man said: "We said this year that the Prime Minister would be holding, as part of an attempt for more direct contact between the Prime Minister and the public, press and Parliament, a series of regular press conferences. The first of these is likely, all things being equal, to be next week, probably on Thursday after Cabinet."