Downing Street Says » Police Investigation

» Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Police Investigation

Asked if Downing Street had heard from the Met police yet, the PMOS thanked the journalist for the kind inquiry but the answer about interview requests was no. Asked whether there had been any requests for any documents, the PMOS said that the allegation contained in the Sunday Mirror and the News of the World was so specific about the Prime Minister and Jonathan Powell and was so 100% wrong that we had thought it right to correct it.

However, that did not mean we were going to start giving a running commentary on a police investigation. Put that the Government had in the past offered to fully co-operate with inquiries such as the Hutton, Hammond and Sutton inquiries, therefore why were we not doing so here, the PMOS said that there was a distinction between a police investigation driven by the police and a public inquiry. In answer to further questions the PMOS said that obviously we abided by the law, but as was our normal practice we did not comment on police investigations.

A false statement had been published at the weekend and given the personality involved, the Prime Minister, it was only right to correct it. Put that as this was the first investigation under the 1925 Honours Act therefore it was not unreasonable to ask for information, the PMOS reiterated that it was a police investigation and as was our normal practice we did not provide running commentaries on police investigations.

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