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Conservatives Accused of 'Trumpian' Tactics After Barring Second Byline Times Journalist From Conference


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A second Byline Times journalist has been blocked from attending Conservative party conference, following our political editor Adam Bienkov's also being rejected.
Award-winning investigative journalist, and Byline Times journalis, David Hencke, was blocked from attending the conference, despite being a regular attendee for almost four decades.
Hencke, who exposed the 'Cash for Questions' scandal and was named Political Journalist of the Year at the 2012 British Journalism Awards, has attended most Conservative party conferences since 1987, working for many years as a Westminster lobby journalist for the Guardian, Tribune magazine and more recently Byline Times.
Despite his long record of attendance, the Conservative party failed to approve a pass for Hencke, leaving him hundreds of pounds out of pocket.
It comes after this outlet reported last month that the Conservative party, "whose leader Kemi Badenoch has repeatedly pledged to fight for free speech'" had banned Adam Bienkov from attending her party's annual conference" in Manchester.
Bienkov was also given no explanation for his rejection from the conference, but a Conservative official later told him the decision had been taken by "our media team".
The National Union of Journalists described the bans as a "worrying" threat to media freedom.
"We are concerned by reports that the Conservative Party has blocked Byline Times journalists from accessing its conference," Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary, said.
"This would continue a worrying trend of legitimate newsgatherers being denied access to political proceedings that are firmly in the public interest.
"It also undermines the Conservative Party leader's repeated pledge to fight for free speech and risks the impression of a party that is trying to evade press scrutiny.
"The Conservative Party should properly communicate and clarify the specific reasons for not granting these journalists access to its conference. Once again, the union calls on all political parties to uphold media freedom and democratic accountability."
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Veteran political reporter Hencke says he never received a notice of approval for his pass, nor received one in the post, despite applying well within the time frame and having attended the gathering for decades.
He had already booked a hotel for the conference through a scheme promoted by the Conservative party itself. Hencke has now been charged £400, as the booking scheme had a strict cancellation policy, which meant by the time it had become clear he had not been given a pass, it was too late to cancel.
Hencke told Byline Times: "I never got an official reply about whether I'd got a pass or not, and I wasn't going to go all the way up there and be turned away. So I cancelled the hotel" - and was charged in full.
"It's bloody outrageous. If I'd booked directly with the hotel, [cancellation] wouldn't have cost me anything, but through the booking system that was offering a reduction, I ended up paying a lot." He has put in a formal complaint.
Commenting on his apparent rejection from the conference, Hencke said he is "really furious."
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"I've had no reply. I've been going since 1987. [This time] I'd drawn attention to the fact that Adam Bienkov was rejected [so] I'm wondering whether it was indirect retaliation [for that]."
He added: "It's quite disgraceful really. There ...
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