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» Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Gerry Conlon Apology

Asked for clarification about the Gerry Conlon issue, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that as he had already said at the morning lobby, it was always a matter for the Speaker of House as to whether he thought it was an appropriate question for PMQs or not. The Speaker had made a judgement. The Prime Minister had wanted to make his position clear on the record, and he had done so.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (48)

Footballers/Role Models

Referring back to his question at yesterday afternoon's lobby about footballers as role models, the Daily Express asked what the Prime Minister thought were the qualities seen in Roy Keane that made him a trusted figure, the PMOS said he had discussed many things with the Prime Minister, but never this issue. He would try in the future to do so, but he would not define that term given the journalist's interest!

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (7)

FOI

Asked if the Government was justified in not releasing economic forecasts, the PMOS replied that whenever people looked at the Act, it allowed for exemptions under two circumstances. First of all, if it was believed that they were in the economic interests of the nation, and the second was regarding material relating to the development of policy (ie so civil servants could speak to Ministers and give their objective advice) without it then being made public. The Lord Chancellor underlined the importance of those two circumstances today.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

PM Apology

Asked if the Prime Minister would make an apology to those wrongly convicted of the Guilford Pub bombings at Prime Minister's Question Time, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that it was entirely a matter for the speaker. Who he called and whether such an opportunity would arise was up to him. What he could say was that all those involved with Northern Ireland lived with the pain of the past and the unfortunate fact was that you could do nothing to change the past. Sometimes however there was an opportunity to at least ease the pain of the present. It was the decent thing to do if you were in that situation to take that opportunity. Asked if the wording had already been negotiated, the PMOS said that we should wait and see what happened. It was a matter of record that the leader of the SDLP had suggested to the Prime Minister that the Prime Minister should write to him. The Prime Minister had written acknowledging that there had been a miscarriage of justice and expressing his regret for that. That was last April. The Taoiseach raised the matter last week, as again did the leader of the SDLP.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Freedom of Information Act

Asked if the Government was using the Freedom of Information Act as a propaganda tool, the PMOS said that first and foremost we should recognise that the information was being released because the Government put forward the Freedom of Information Act. That was how this opportunity arose. Secondly proper procedures would be followed and those procedures would be overseen by the Civil Service and the appropriate people. Asked who made the final decisions on what information to give, the PMOS said that in respect of the ERM case his understanding was that current Government Ministers would not permitted to see the information until it was published. In these situations the Civil Service department concerned was in charge of the decisions in consultation with the Cabinet Office and the DCA. It was a long standing convention that the current administration did not see the papers of the previous administration. Asked about the thin line between what could and could not be published, the PMOS said that the act set out the limits. It was always clear that there would exemption for material relating to policy, because otherwise Government couldn't get advice in the objective way necessary. There were also exemptions on what was judged to be the economic interest of the nation. The over-seeing of all this was dealt with by clear provisions in the act.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (3)

Europe

Put to him that the Foreign Secretary's comments this morning about the European Constitution being as far as we went contradicted the Prime Minister's stance that he didn't have time for people who weren't willing to move forward with Europe, the PMOS said that the two were perfectly compatible although some may not wish to acknowledge that. What the constitution clearly established was a Europe of nation-states cooperating together as nation states. Sharing Sovereignty on issues when it was of interest to do so but operating as a union of nation-states. That was clearly enshrined in the Constitution. That was also the reality of a Union of 25, in which many of the existing members and the majority of new members shared the same view of Europe as we did. That was the reality of the Europe we were dealing with. The overall principles were clearly set out in the Constitution. Asked if he could give any assurance that this Bill would be proceeded with in coming weeks, the PMOS said that was a matter for those who dealt with the timetable for Parliament.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

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» Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Gerry Conlon Apology

Footballers/Role Models

FOI

PM Apology

Freedom of Information Act

Europe

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