» Thursday, November 23, 2006

House of Lords reform

Asked for an update on progress towards a White Paper, the Leader said no conclusion had been reached at present. Mr Straw said that there two related matters. One was the Government's response to the Cunningham report on the conventions, which was currently being drafted. It was hoped to publish the response quite shortly and have a debate, firstly in the House of Lords and then in the House of Commons. He said they would be in sequence since there would be a Message from the Lords to the Commons. It was possible that the debate could occur in the Lords before Christmas.

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

Terrorism

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with the Conservatives that while his position on terrorism had been non-partisan the Chancellor and Dr. John Reid were behaving with an irresponsible, tough guy attitude, the PMOS said he would not go down the party road but terrorism is an issue which does need to be addressed and the public need to understand the nature of the threat we face and the efforts the Government are making to counter that threat.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (3)

Crucifix-British Airways

Asked to expand on his earlier comments in the House, the Leader repeated that the Government did not take a position. He personally found the attitude of British Airways inexplicable, as he had stated. There was an issue of consistency. He had made it clear that everyone had supported the right of Sikhs to wear turbans at work, and he had been consistent in supporting the right of Muslim women to wear the hijab headscarf. He did not see the difference in principle between those outward manifestations of people's religiosity and belief and wearing a cross or a Star of David.

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

Pledgebank

Asked if the Prime Minister was at all concerned that his pitiful attempts to play cricket yesterday had at all affected the Ashes in Brisbane, the PMOS said that he was just pleased the Prime Minister did actually hit the ball.

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

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