Alok Sharma is being widely criticised by journalists for suggesting that it is unfair for broadcasters to ask ministers to explain details of coronavirus restrictions. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the business secretary said: 'There is an element of slightly ‘gotcha’ about this in terms of this line of questioning. You are a flagship programme when it comes to serious news and it is not a quiz show'.
Sharma was talking in the context of the PM’s failure to answer questions over the new lockdown restrictions imposed on the north east of England in a Q&A yesterday, which an education minister, Gillian Keegan, also failed to answer. As soon as Sharma made his 'quiz show' jibe, the Today presenter Martha Kearney asked if he was seriously arguing that asking ministers to explain the coronavirus rules was as trivial as a quiz question

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