» Thursday, December 16, 2004
Reshuffle
The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) informed journalists that there had been an error on a Press Release issued earlier today. James Purnell would be the new unpaid assistant and Government whip. Tom Watson would now be a paid whip.
Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)
Regiments
Asked if the Prime Minister had been bluffing when he said the outcome of the review of the regiments might not be what people imagined and the outcome had been exactly as predicted, the PMS said that there had been a lot of speculation about today's announcement. We had always told people to wait for the announcement rather than prejudge it. The review had been announced in July. The Army had wanted to look at its structure and today's announcement was the outcome of that review.
Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)
Belmarsh Prisoners
Asked what the Government's reaction would be to the ruling by the Law Lords concerning prisoners detained without charge at Belmarsh prison, the PMS asked journalists if they had seen the Written Ministerial Statement issued by the Home Office in response to the House of Lords judgement. The PMS quoted the statement made by the Home Secretary saying: "I will be asking Parliament to renew this legislation in the New Year but in the meantime we will be studying the judgement carefully to see whether it is possible to modify our legislation to address the concerns raised by the House of Lords." Asked if they Government would continue to detain the prisoners, the PMS quoted another paragraph saying: "Accordingly I will not be revoking the certificates or releasing the detainees, whom I believe are a significant threat to our security, a judgment upheld by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, chaired by a High Court Judge." The Statement made it quite clear what the Government's position was.
Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (3)
David Blunkett
Asked what the Prime Minister's reaction to David Blunkett's resignation at Cabinet was, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that obviously everyone was very sad about David Blunkett's departure from the Cabinet, and the Prime Minister was sure that everyone would agree that Charles Clarke would be a brilliant Home Secretary. He also congratulated Ruth Kelly on her appointment as Secretary of State for Education.
Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)
EU Council Trip
Asked if the reason the Brussels trip was so short was because the "Turkey thing was all sewn up", the PMOS said one could never assume agreement, and it was unwise to do so. We felt it was in the interests of the EU as a whole, and it was in the interests of Turkey that we got an agreement to negotiations next year. We felt that was reachable at the summit, but this was a EU of 25 countries, and Turkey had its own interests to safeguard, therefore it could never be assumed that an agreement could be reached. We were travelling in hope, but not in certainty.
Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)
Law Lords
Asked if there had been any decision on the law lords ruling this morning yet, the PMOS said we recognised there would need to be a decision taken by Parliament about how to respond to the ruling. However, the detail should be left to the written ministerial statement.
Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)
Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.
Search
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Nov | Jan » | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
Supported by
Recent Briefings
- Briefings are now secret.
- Syrian refugee resettlement
- Syria
- Scotland
- Independence referendum
- Trade Union Bill (No.2)
- Syria
- Northern Ireland
- Syria
- Syria
Archives
- December 2015
- September 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 1970
- November 1900
- October 1900
- August 1900
- February 1900
- January 1900
- June 111
- May 111
- April 111
- March 111
- February 111
- January 111
- 111
- November 110
- October 110
- September 110
- August 110
- July 110
- June 110
- May 110
- April 110
- March 110
- February 110
- January 110
- 110
- November 109
- October 109
- September 109
- August 109
- June 109
- May 109
- 0
Links
Syndicate (RSS/XML)
Credits
Enquiries
Contact Sam Smith.