Downing Street Says » 2005

» Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Other Business

The PMOS welcomed the unanimous agreement today at the EU Competition Council on the REACH (Regulation, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) agreement, which was something we had been seeking for some time. In particular we welcomed the role of the new German administration in reaching agreement today.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Iraq

Asked whether the Prime Minister concurred with Major General Dutton, the commander in charge of MNDSE, who said it was realistic that troops could come home in 6 months, the PMOS said he had not heard the specific comments. However, in relation to the Times story of today, he was surprised that they thought it was a front-page lead. Our position all along had been that as and when the Iraqi forces were capable of taking the load then that was when it would be possible to think about them taking the burden rather than our troops. The future of the process of "Iraqi-isation" and the future of Iraq would be decided at 33,000 polling booths this week in Iraq. When we started the process of "Iraqi-isation" we had said the Multinational Force would work in cooperation with the Iraqi Government and it was the Iraqi Government that would decide the pace of change.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Today Programme

Asked whether he had listened to John Humphries this morning and what he thought about the Lord Falconer interview, the PMOS said he had not listened to it. There was however a certain level of concern about the two-way on education which suggested that the Government was in some way re-introducing selection at 11 years of age. This was definitely not the case and that had been conveyed to the BBC. Asked if the two-way had been broadcast at 6.07am, the PMOS looked very sternly at the reporter.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

IB Reform

Asked about the Telegraph story, the PMOS said it was rubbish. He had met the Secretary of State in passing at No10 this morning and he had been even blunter in his dismissal. Asked in that case whether the plan was still radical, the PMOS said that the plan was precisely to have a radical white paper.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

» Monday, December 12, 2005

Anti Social Behaviour

Asked what time the Prime Minister thought children should be home at, following his comments on GMTV that children should not stay out late, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he thought that we all recognised that it was a matter for parents to exercise responsibility. That was precisely what the Prime Minster was getting at and precisely what the measures, already in place and envisaged, were aimed at.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

EU

Put to the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) that he told journalists last week that Jack Straw would publish a new proposal ahead of the summit, the PMOS that he did not; others did. The PMOS said that we would publish something towards the middle of the week, close to the summit, as was normal practice.

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

Rendition

Asked if the Government had ever received a request for an extra-ordinary rendition, as opposed to a rendition, the PMOS said that extra-ordinary rendition was not a phrase that we used. It was a media term. In terms of rendition the Foreign Secretary had spoken this morning about the three occasions on which he, as Home Secretary, and under the previous US administration had received requests. That was all we were aware of in terms of rendition of any kind to date. Put to him that presumably the Government had not agreed to any extra-ordinary renditions because they were illegal, the PMOS said that he would not talk about hypothetical situations. What he would talk about was what was actually the law, which was that we did not in any way condone the use of torture and would not be involved in any process that resulted in the use of torture.

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

Rendition Flights

Asked if Jack Straw would give any information about the rendition flights, as mentioned on the radio today, the PMOS said that what the Foreign Secretary was doing was with the agreement of Mr. Menzies-Campbell who asked Mr. Straw a PQ last week, was to answer that there were three requests for rendition in the Clinton Presidency in 1998, two of which were agreed, and the other was refused. There had been no such requests since 9/11 under the current administration.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

EU Budget

Put to him that there were reports in Brussels that suggested the French Government had said that it would block any further enlargement of Europe until Britain gave up it's rebate in full, the PMOS said that he was not aware of such reports. We should deal with the issues of the budget at budget talks and deal with issues of enlargement at enlargement talks. Asked if the Prime Minister had received the letter President Barroso had sent him, the PMOS said we were aware that the letter was coming. This whole period was for people to make their views known to us and that included the Commission.

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

Reshuffle

Asked if it was right to assume that there would be no reshuffle this week, the PMOS said the reshuffle would come when it came.

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

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» Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Other Business

Iraq

Today Programme

IB Reform

» Monday, December 12, 2005

Anti Social Behaviour

EU

Rendition

Rendition Flights

EU Budget

Reshuffle

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