Downing Street Says

Asked if there had been any progress on the review into letters sent out to the families who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that the Prime Minister had apologised unreservedly for any errors that had occurred. To the best of our knowledge all letters had been written and had been or were in the process of being dispatched.

Asked if the three letters that had not been dispatched on time were all from Gordon Brown’s time as Prime Minister, the PMS said that that was the case. Asked repeatedly if there were any letters from 2008 or 2009 that had not been sent out on time, the PMS replied that all letters had been written and had been or were in the process of being dispatched. That brought things right up to date.

Asked if the review was complete, the PMS said that it was in the process of being completed. Asked if there were any letters from 2008 or 2009 that had been sent out after a delay, the PMS said that we were dealing with a situation that involved grieving families; the Prime Minister unreservedly apologised for the letters that had not been sent out in 2007.

If there were any other letters, the Prime Minister would want to see them as part of the review. The PMS said that there had been fatalities recently and he would not go into the details when dealing with such issues.

Put that the PMS could not divulge details of any other delayed letters because they had not arrived with the families in question, the PMS said that if there were letters that referred to very recent fatalities then people could draw the conclusion from that.

Put that there was no backlog of letters, the PMS said that that was correct. Put that the PMS had said this morning that there may have been other letters from 2008 and 2009 and was that still the case, the PMS said that he was happy to check that.

Asked if the Prime Minister wrote letters for all fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan or was it just for people who had died in combat , the PMS said that the Prime Minister would write to the families of anyone who had died in combat; whether that was extended to include people who died in training accidents for example, the PMS said he did not know but would check.

Asked if he could shed any light on the processes behind the review being undertaken, the PMS said that the process of the review was being conducted by Jeremy Heywood, the most senior civil servant in No10. The PMS would not go into detail about what the exact process was, but the Prime Minister was keen that this process was completed as quickly as possible.

Asked whether a copy of every letter sent out by the Prime Minister was kept, the PMS replied that that was highly likely but he would need to check. Put that someone in Downing Street must know by now whether there were any more letters that had been sent out late from 2008 or 2009, the PMS repeated that he was happy to give a clearer sense of that after lobby.

Asked if the Prime Minister had written any letters since the story broke this morning, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister wrote letters to the families of those involved in conflict at the appropriate time and he gave a lot of attention to it. The PMS added that he did not update people as to when the Prime Minister wrote letters.

Asked if there had been a catch-up operation, the PMS said that the Prime Minister took enormous care and attention when he wrote these letters.

Asked if the Prime Minister would admit that it was a bit strange to not acknowledge a letter was two years late in the letter that was eventually sent, the PMS said that the Prime Minister thought that it was important that the family saw that the most senior civil servant in Downing Street, responsible for the administration, was personally writing and explaining the situation. The letter from Jeremy Heywood accompanied the Prime Minister’s letter.

Asked if the fact Jeremy Heywood was writing the letter was an acknowledgement that it was an administrative error rather than a Prime Ministerial error, the PMS said it was not a question of apportioning individual blame. The Prime Minister had reinforced what Jeremy Heywood had written in his letter by apologising today.

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» Thursday, December 3, 2009

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