Downing Street Says » Prime Minister’s Priorities

» Friday, May 1, 2009

Prime Minister’s Priorities

Asked whether it was true that the Prime Minister was planning some big issue speeches over the coming weeks and was he aware of the comments being made by colleagues that he was not listening to advice, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister would continue to focus on the big issues facing the country. Today he was visiting NHS staff dealing with swine flu, earlier in the week he was outlining the Government’s strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan, we were continuing to take forward action in relation to dealing with the economic slowdown, we would continue to set out our agenda on investment and reform of key public services, particularly in relation to crime and education, and we would continue to focus on what was necessary to deal with the terrorist threat.

Asked if John McFall was correct in saying that the Prime Minister acknowledged that things could have been handled better this week, the PMS said that once people had poked their way through the froth and looked at what had been achieved this week, we set out a significant statement on our strategy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan, which was a very important foreign policy priority for us, and we had also achieved more reform of MPs expenses in a week than had been achieved in the previous several decades.

Asked whether the Prime Minister welcomed the comments made by David Blunkett on how he was handling day-to-day issues, the PMS said that on Gurkhas, the Prime Minister had acknowledged that of course this was an emotive and controversial issue and we would listen to the views of Parliament and respond accordingly. On expenses, once people had poked beneath the froth, they would find that we had achieved the most significant reform of MPs expenses in a week than had been seen for several decades. The big issues facing the country at the moment were the state of the economy, dealing with swine flu, investment and reform of our public services and dealing with security and crime concerns. These were the issues that the Prime Minister was focussing on.

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