Downing Street has defended the production of a film about the UK’s “extraordinary” vaccine programme which is yet to be released more than a month after a trailer was posted online.
Officials have refused to set out how much A Beacon Of Hope: The UK Vaccine Story has cost, or how much was paid for the dramatic music which accompanied the online teaser.
The trailer was released on March 10, with the full version billed as “coming soon” and officials indicating it would have been released later that week.
“Extraordinary. Unexpected. Fantastic.”
A Beacon of Hope: The UK Vaccine Story.
Coming soon. pic.twitter.com/G8SQYhDp5F
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) March 10, 2021
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said “the documentary will be published” and insisted “this was produced entirely in house by No 10 staff as part of their work” and within the existing budget for the digital communications team.
Any costs for the musical soundtrack would have come from within that budget, the spokesman said.
Asked whether it was right that taxpayers’ money was spent on a promotional film, the spokesman said: “It’s important that the public are able to understand this important public health issue about the vaccine rollout.”
The 51-second trailer features interviews with familiar faces including England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and the full version is thought to be around 30 minutes long.
The Government has released a number of glossily-produced videos in recent months, including a six-minute-long video posted by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the run-up to the Budget in which he reflected on his time in No 11.
Related: Sunak remains silent on Biden’s plan to create a global tax floor
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can’t do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .