Open, honest, and accountable?

The coalition government promised to shame Labour by being more open, honest, and accountable. But news-junkies regularly tuning in to Newsnight may have noticed a recurrent failure by the coalition to provide spokespeople for the BBC's flagship current affairs programme - especially when it comes to stories which reflect badly on the government.

On Wednesday 18 August, Kirsty Wark told us that nobody from the coalition was available to answer questions about proposed cuts to universal benefits and splits in the Conservative party over welfare reform. It was left to Michael Crick to do all the talking.

Again, on Thursday, no minister was available to answer questions from Laura Kuenssberg about how the coalition's education policies are expected to assist social mobility. That's right - nobody from the Department for Education was available to comment on Newsnight on the day A-level results were announced.

And again on Friday - my-oh-my, the government must be busy - no minister from the Department for Transport was available to explain how removing speed cameras from our roads is expected to impact on road safety. You would have expected the coalition to mount an energetic defence of their approach, rather than leaving it to controversial anti-speed camera agitators, Safe Speed.

Could this be further evidence to support claims of government hostility towards the BBC?