Downing Street Says » Peter Hain

» Thursday, January 18, 2007

Peter Hain

Asked if the Prime Minister had any comments to make on Peter Hain’s article in the New Statesman, the PMOS said that as people knew, it was in a political context and therefore, he was not going to comment on it.

Asked about Peter Hain’s comments regarding the US, the PMOS said that the journalist knew the context in which those comments were made and he said that he did not want to talk about what was a political contest in any way, as it was not his role to do so. Cabinet collective responsibility remained, but equally, the PMOS said that he had to recognise that Cabinet Minister were also party members and they would make statements in that context.

Asked that when the PMOS had said that he could not speak about the New Statesman article, did that mean that everyone knew that he was running for the Deputy leadership, the PMOS said that the journalist was more able to make that judgement than he was.

Put that in the article, Peter Hain had said that it was important for the Government to maintain the "working relationship" with the US Administration, and was that all we were doing, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister had spoken in the past about his view of the relationship with Europe and the US, and he did not in any way resile from that. The PMOS said that he would decline from the journalist’s "Gibbon-esque type of question to try and comment on something that he said he was not going to. The PMOS added that it was almost a huge compliment, that was only surpassed by the other well-known device: "The Oakley"!

Asked by Channel 4’s Political Editor if there was anything in Peter Hain’s interview that made us so sure that this was not just "high minded statesman-like intervention", the PMOS replied that that was a "Gibbon-esque" question, and he would completely decline it. However, there was nothing like the real thing!

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