Downing Street Says » 2005

» Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Honours List

Asked for further information on the Committee Honours Chairmen list, the PMS explained that it was a Written Ministerial Statement from the Prime Minister. It detailed the new chairs of the Honours Committees. The new Committees had been established as a result of the two reviews of the Honours system, which had been carried out by Haydn Philips and the Public Administration Select Committee. Various recommendations were put forward, one of which was that the chairs of these committees should be appointed. The chairs announced today had applied for the posts and their applications had been dealt with through the Nolan principles. The PMS said that previously, the committees had been chaired by civil servants. These new Committees would scrutinise the Honours lists to be published at New Year. It was part of the new transparency that surrounded the Honours system.

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

» Monday, June 13, 2005

EU Rebate

Asked whether Peter Mandelson's comments during a speech tonight about the poorer countries' contributions towards the rebate were considered helpful at this time, the Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) said Mr. Mandelson was the EU Commissioner. The Prime Minister had spoken about the rebate at lunch time, setting out his views on the situation.

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

ID Cards

Asked to comment on an ICM survey that suggested that ID cards were less popular than the Government had claimed, the PMS said she had not seen the survey, and could not therefore comment. The PMS said the Government had set out its plans when it recently published the Bill.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (6)

Afghan Troops

Asked what the current position was on troops being sent out to Afghanistan was, the PMS said the story appeared to be confused. The Prime Minister had announced last June at the NATO conference in Istanbul that the UK would deploy the Headquarter's Group of the ARRC (Allied Rapid Reaction Corp). Any talk of how many troops would be deployed, however, was purely speculative.
Asked if the figure of 5000 troops going was therefore "completely wrong", the PMS said the figure was entirely speculative. We had announced there would be a deployment last June.

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

EU Constitution

Asked if the Prime Minister would be seeking to prolong the ratification period for the EU Constitution during his talks this week, the Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) said it would be better if people waited until the talks had taken place in Brussels later in the week. The Prime Minister had set out his views, and we were waiting for the meeting where the issues would be discussed.

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

EU Finance

Put to her that now France and Germany seemed to be "going soft" on the one per cent line, was Britain's position still one per cent as the maximum they were prepared to go, the PMS said the Foreign Secretary had set out our position this morning.

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

» Friday, June 10, 2005

EU Rebate

Asked for the Prime Minister's current position on the EU rebate, the PMS said that the Prime Minister expressed his view clearly in his doorstep with Josep Borell at Downing Street this morning. She had nothing to add to that.

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

Moscow/G8

The PMS confirmed the Prime Minister's meeting with President Putin in Moscow on Monday and his trips to Berlin immediately afterwards and Paris on Tuesday. Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that the debate over the EU budget would overshadow the Prime Minister's G8 agenda, the PMS said this was part of a programme to meet leaders ahead of the G8 summit. Clearly there would be discussions of a wide range of issues at those meetings. The Prime Minister knew what he wished to discuss at these meetings and would make sure he got through his agenda. Put to her that the Chancellor had asked the Prime Minister to toughen his stance on the EU budget, the PMS said that the Prime Minister set out his views and had been very clear on the issue.

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

Zimbabwe

Asked if the Prime Minister would raise the issue of the EU's failure to impose a travel ban on the leadership of Zimbabwe with his European colleagues, the PMS said that the EU had been discussing the situation in Zimbabwe and the UK and the EU had made it clear that we deplored what was going on in Zimbabwe. She did not know whether the issue was on the agenda for the meetings, next week.

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

» Thursday, June 9, 2005

EU Rebate

Put to him that President Chirac had called on the UK to make a gesture about the rebate, what sort of gesture would be made in return from the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) asked the journalist did he want a verbal answer or something else? The PMOS said that during the period 1995 - 2003, the UK was the second largest net contributor after Germany to the EU, and even with the rebate, we paid 2.5 times more than either France or Italy. During the same period, without the rebate, we would have paid fifteen times more than France and twelve times more than Italy. Under Commission proposals for 2007 - 2013, without a rebate, we would still be paying 2.5 times more than either France or Italy, despite the fact that our economy was not doing 2.5 times as well as France's.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (2)

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» Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Honours List

» Monday, June 13, 2005

EU Rebate

ID Cards

Afghan Troops

EU Constitution

EU Finance

» Friday, June 10, 2005

EU Rebate

Moscow/G8

Zimbabwe

» Thursday, June 9, 2005

EU Rebate

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