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Journalists from every major national broadcaster and newspaper walked out of No 10 today after the Government tried to pick and choose which media outlets it briefed.

Broadcasters including political editors Laura Kuenssberg from the BBC, Robert Peston from ITV and Beth Rigby from Sky News were among those who left in protest.

Around a dozen journalists from organisations including the Financial Times, the Sun and the Telegraph had received an official invitation from Downing Street to attend the briefing with David Frost, Boris Johnson's Europe advisor, on the PM's post-Brexit trade plans.

But political editors from other publications - who have previously been invited to non-political briefings given by senior civil servants on government premises - also turned up.

They were granted entry into No 10 but a security official then read out a list of names for those who were allowed entry to the briefing - with those from left-of-centre outlets forced to stand on the opposite side of the entrance hall.

(Image: WILL OLIVER/EPA-EFE/REX)

Those banned from the briefing, in a move reminiscent of Donald Trump's administration which has tried to exclude journalists from critical organisations, included The Daily Mirror, The i, HuffPost UK and the Independent.

Mr Johnson's head of communications Lee Cain arrived and told reporters: "Those who are invited to the briefing can stay, everyone else I'm afraid will have to leave."

After journalists pointed out that briefings with civil servants - as non-political representatives of government - had always been open to the full spectrum of media outlets, he replied: "We're welcome to brief whoever we like."

The journalists then walked out of No 10, in the latest escalation of Mr Johnson's tensions with the media.

Shadow Culture Secretary Tracy Brabin MP said: “Press freedom is a cornerstone of our democracy and journalists must be able to hold the government to account.

"It is concerning that Boris Johnson seems to be resorting to tactics imported from Donald Trump to hide from scrutiny.

“The future trade agreement with the European Union is an issue of great public importance and interest. Those gaining access to such important information should not be cherry picked by Number 10.”

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Labour MP Wes Streeting branded the move "totally unacceptable and Trumpian" and suggested it had been "enabled by frequent attacks on mainstream media from across the political spectrum", in an apparent reference to Jeremy Corbyn.

Fellow Labour MP David Lammy said it was "deeply sinister" and was "straight out of Donald Trump's playbook", adding: "Our democracy depends on a robust and independent media being free to hold the government to account."

Pro-Brexit journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer, who spoke at the Leave Means Leave rally in Parliament Square on Friday night, said: "It is totally unacceptable for No10 to try to pick and choose which journalists can attend lobby briefings.

"All credit to the integrity and professionalism of those journalists who refused to accept the briefing when others were excluded. This stuff matters in a democracy."

Angela Rayner, favourite to win the Labour deputy leadership contest, tweeted: "This is very poor stuff, behaving like Trump's press and media cronies, utter disgrace! No wonder so many news organisations walked out, quite right too."

A No 10 insider said they had arranged a small briefing for selected journalists, adding: "Uninvited Journalists barged in and demanded to be part of it. It was made clear - only those invited could stay. They chose to leave”.

However, one lobby source pointed out it was impossible to "barge in" to No 10 which is protected by several layers of security, including iron gates and armed police.

The incident follows one last week where a similar "technical briefing" was arranged on the decision to grant Chinese firm Huawei access to the UK's 5G infrastructure network, but several major media organisations were not invited.

This was despite the briefing being delivered by senior intelligence figures, Foreign Office and DCMS civil servants, and on government premises - all funded by the taxpayer.

Mr Johnson has also banned ministers from taking part in BBC Radio 4's Today programme and ITV's Good Morning Britain.