Downing Street Says » 2005

» Thursday, October 20, 2005

Suspected Terrorists on bail

Asked about bail being granted to 4 terror suspects awaiting deportation, the PMOS said that Hazel Blears had released a statement which whilst expressing disappointment stressed two things. First, that this in no way prejudged the outcome of the decision on deportation. Second, that we would also be asking Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) to impose strict bail conditions. Asked if this played into the Prime Minister's stated frustrations with the system, the PMOS said that the important thing was that we treated this case as a stand-alone case. The Prime Minister's view that we now had different circumstances to contend with was on the record. A point that was underlined by the Home Secretary at Cabinet this morning.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

EU informal summit

Asked about the summit, the PMOS said it was very much about debating the issue of how the EU met the challenge of globalisation in order to get the priorities right in the EU before we got to the December Summit on future financing. Hampton Court was not about future financing. As the Prime Minster had said in his letter to EU leaders this morning he would make every effort to get an agreement on future financing at the December Summit.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Pakistan

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) drew journalists' attention to the fact that three RAF Chinook helicopters were going out to Pakistan today to help in the region.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

EU Informal Summit

The PMOS also updated people on the EU Informal Summit. He said that the Prime Minister was formally inviting the EU Leaders today to the Informal Summit, and his letters of invitation set out the objectives and the format of the Summit. The PMOS drew journalists' attention to certain parts of the letter where the Prime Minister said that he proposed "...as the theme of our discussion, the opportunities and challenges of globalisation. How do we meet the competitive challenge and maintain the security of our citizens in a world of unprecedented movement.....". At the Informal Summit, President Barroso would present a Commission Paper that was due to be published later today. Based on that paper, the Prime Minister had proposed the following questions to frame the discussion:

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

EU Finance

Asked why the Prime Minister was "so keen" not to hold any discussions on future financing, the PMOS said that as he had said yesterday, it was a question of getting the horse and the cart in the right order. As the Prime Minister had set out in June, the challenges facing Europe were how we addressed the opportunities and "threats" of globalisation. Therefore, we needed to address those broader questions before the particularities of the details of the budget could be addressed. What could not happen, however, was to allow the particularities of the budget dictate how the broader question was addressed. The PMOS said that in this country, we tended to start everything from the rebate, but as the Prime Minister said in June, the rebate was only a symptom of the overall problem, but it was not the problem itself. The problem was how did we address challenges of globalisation today and how did that impact on the EU's priorities

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Avian Flu

Asked for further details about this afternoon's meeting on avian flu, the PMOS said it would be better to let the meeting take place first. However, what was important was that the NFU and the Government both understood where we were on the situation, because it was not a new subject, and there had been contingency plans and discussions for some time on this issue. It was important that we were both on the same page.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (8)

» Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Compensation for victims of terrorism

Asked to clear up what the Prime Minister answered at PMQs today about compensation to victims of terror, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that what the Prime Minister was saying was that we were looking at two things. The first was recompense to those affected by the 7/7 bombings and secondly, more broadly at the issue of compensation for people in such cases, and we were also looking at the issue of compensation for those affected by terrorist outrages overseas. As the Prime Minister indicated, however, we were in early days of thinking this issue through, and we were not at the point of firm conclusions.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Stephen Byers

Asked for the Government's view on Stephen Byers being referred to the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee, the PMOS said that it was a matter for the House to discuss. Asked if the Prime Minister was satisfied with Mr Byers' explanation and the way it had been conducted, the PMOS said that the court had made its judgement and the judgement of the court should be respected. Stephen Byers had set out his case and the House would debate the matter today. In response to the suggestion that his comments were lukewarm support for Stephen Byers, the PMOS said that his words were not as interpreted. They simply stated the factual case.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Rory Carroll Kidnapping

Asked what the Government's reaction was to the reported kidnapping of the Irish journalist Rory Carroll, the PMOS said that obviously we were concerned by the reports and the Foreign Office would be working with the newspaper and the family to try and see what the facts were. If there were measures we could take, then we would consider them, but the important thing was that in all these situations, we established what the facts were.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Soldier’s Deaths in Iraq

Asked if there was any comment on the 97th British military fatality in Iraq, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister believed that the people of Iraq had showed at the weekend by turning out to vote in a democratic election that what they wanted to see was the future of Iraq decided by democratic means. The insurgents did not want to see the future of Iraq decided by democratic means and sadly another British soldier had been killed as a result of the insurgency's attacks. What the Prime Minister believed and what the British people would expect was that we saw the job done. That meant getting to a situation where the Iraqis themselves could look after their own security. The future of Iraq should be decided by democratic means not by the use of insurgent force. Asked if the Prime Minister's view on getting the job done was an open ended, non-time limited offer, the PMOS said that as they had heard when the Iraqi President was here the Iraqi Government believed that our presence was necessary at the moment to allow them to build up their capacity. Not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of quality so that they could deal with the insurgency. As the Prime Minister had himself said at the press conference with the President the irony was that it was the insurgency that was keeping our troops there longer rather than the other way round. It was necessary to protect Iraq's emerging democracy and this was only necessary because of the attacks from the insurgency.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (4)

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» Thursday, October 20, 2005

Suspected Terrorists on bail

EU informal summit

Pakistan

EU Informal Summit

EU Finance

Avian Flu

» Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Compensation for victims of terrorism

Stephen Byers

Rory Carroll Kidnapping

Soldier’s Deaths in Iraq

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