Downing Street Says

Asked what the Prime Minister had meant when he said that some of the people who were covering the BAe story had an agenda, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister thought that some people were hostile to the defence industry, and were hostile to that type of contract. But the Prime Minister believed that it was in Britain’s national interest.

Asked to clarify what the Prime Minister had meant when he said earlier that the decision was backed by the entire system and did this include the intelligence and security services, the PMOS said that he would not talk for the security services but he did understand that they would be clarifying their position later this afternoon. What the Prime Minister had meant was that the advice he had received was unequivocal in its message. The Attorney General had also said that in his view the chances of a prosecution were not high.

Asked to clarify what the Prime Minister had said earlier today when he said he was not aware of any unhappiness from MI6, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister quite rightly was not going to comment on information he received from the intelligence agencies, but he was trying to indicate that in his view the Guardian story was wrong.

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that one of Britain’s largest companies and arms manufacturers seemed to be mired in allegations not just with the Saudis, but with the story yesterday about a military radar deal with the Tanzanians, the PMOS replied that one had to be careful to differentiate between allegations and proof of wrong doing. Asked whether the Prime Minister was concerned by the damage to BAe’s image, the PMOS again replied that one should be very wary of building a general argument on what were just allegations.

Asked if there was a danger that an impression was being created that this was a bit of real politik which would also explain why we did business with the Saudis who many considered as an unsavourily regime in its own right, the PMOS referred the journalist to what the Attorney General had said about the chances of a prosecution, and in general terms referred him to the role that Saudi Arabia had played in terms of helping the UK in terms of intelligence for example, and thirdly pointed him to what the Prime Minister had said on many occasions about his desire to see democracy extended in Saudi Arabia as well as the rest of the Middle East.

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» Tuesday, January 16, 2007

BAe

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