Boris Johnson has launched three key draft revised strategies for London today: The London Plan, the Transport Strategy and the Economic Development Strategy.

In the case of one of these – the transport strategy – there is an almighty mess this morning with the media from the Standard to Dave Hill highlighting the sections referring to the possibility of additional road pricing (on top of the congestion charging scheme). The Standard quotes a spokesman for the mayor saying “There are no firm figures in place, but it is something that Boris is looking at and talking to [Transport Secretary] Lord Adonis about.”

Yet as Dave Hill points out, when asked about plans for road pricing across London at the beginning of this month the mayor described the idea as “perverse” and “odd.” Dave Hill wrote at the time that the mayor “doubted that most RAC members would favour it, any more than suburban Londoners would welcome the ’swingeing new taxes’ such a move would impose.”

So which is it? Are Londoners to believe the mayor when he speaks or his formal transport strategy document?

The launch of three revised strategies ought to be and is big news – three vital documents that provide a framework for guiding policy for the capital. Yet although these strategies are now up for public consultation, the mayor chose to launch them not with a press conference for the media who communicate with millions but with a meeting of City Hall staff. The two did not ought to be counterposed.

This would not be so bad if it was a one-off, but the mayor is permanently unavailable for press conferences.

Nick Carthew, the head of the Liberal Democrat office at City Hall, has tweeted that the mayor told staff “road pricing is not a proposal, its an option” and called the Standard “mischevious” for highlighting it.

Two things. One, you will not have a leg to stand on when you complain about “mischevious” coverage if you never accord the media that follow your story most closely the courtesy of holding a press conference where you can set out your case. Ken Livingstone held them weekly; to Boris Johnson they are an alien concept. Johnson would have a stronger basis to argue with the media about their coverage if he was prepared to appear before them. Instead he is much less accountable than his predecessor.

Press conferences are not the only mechanism available to a politician but to so completely erase them from your media strategy indicates real unaccountability and a total lack of confidence in what you have to say.

And two, if you really think all this road pricing stuff is “mischevious” why have you put it in the strategy in the first place? Don’t expect the media to ignore what you have published yourself.