Downing Street Says ... Every day the Prime Minister’s Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as ‘the lobby’ for a topical chat, or ‘briefing’.

Every day the Prime Minister's Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as 'the lobby' for a topical chat, or 'briefing'.

Downing Street Says... is an unofficial site that lets you read summaries of these briefings and add your own comments. Want to know more?

» Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Bank Levy

Asked when did the Prime Minister learn about the Bank Levy announcement, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said it was normal practise for the Prime Minister to be told about tax changes before they were made. The Treasury had been explaining why they had made their announcement today. They had made that announcement and it […]

Search and Rescue

Asked what the Prime Minister’s reaction was to suspending privatisation of search and rescue and was he concerned about it, the PMS said the Department for Transport had set out in a Written Ministerial Statement what had happened and why. Asked if he was worried about procurement at the MOD, the PMS replied that there […]

Afghanistan

Asked what the Prime Minister thought of authorities in Afghanistan planning to hang a Muslim who had converted to Christianity, the PMS said we had a very clear position on Human Rights and on that specific case he would advise them to speak to the Foreign Office. original source.

AV Bill

Asked about the Government losing the vote proposing the 40% threshold and was the Government planning to overturn this in the Lords, the PMS replied that on that that specific amendment he would expect the Government to amend it back when it returned to the Commons. On the AV bill more generally he said the […]

Prisoner Voting

Asked whether Government Ministers should abstain and did the Government have any desire not to see a vote, the PMS said there would be a vote. We had said we would listen to the views expressed by Parliament. Our position was that we wanted to listen to what Parliament said. And we would take that […]

AV Bill

Asked if the Government was still confident of meeting the deadline, the PMS said that it was described in Cabinet as being on track’. The PMS said that the amendment in question was an issue that had cross-party support in the House of Commons and the House would no doubt want to come back to […]

Bank Levy

Asked why the Chancellor had made this announcement now and not as part of the Budget, the PMS said that the Chancellor had set this out himself this morning. He had made this decision and announced it as soon as possible. The Bank Levy was originally designed to be phased in, but since that decision, […]

Trade White Paper

On what people could expect from the Trade White Paper, the PMS said that Stephen Green had set out his objectives. These included promoting trade by small and medium sized companies. SMEs that did trade with other countries tended to be more innovative and more efficient. The PMS said that this was about strengthening the […]

AL Megrahi

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with US Senators who had called for a further inquiry into Lockerbie, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had set out his position yesterday. The Prime Minister had also expressed the view in the past that he did not need another inquiry to tell him that the decision […]

Search and Rescue Helicopters

Asked why the Secretary of State was not making an Oral Statement to the House on the issue, the PMS said that the Secretary of State had set out the position in a Written Ministerial Statement. Asked how much the public had lost during the process, the PMS advised people to speak to the department […]

Tax System

Asked whether marriage being recognised in the tax system was something that had been kicked into the long grass’, the PMS replied that the position was as set out in the Coalition Agreement. Asked if there would be any time left to bring in changes to reflect marriage in the tax system, the PMS said […]

Misc

Asked for a Government view on the Guardian journalist who was refused entry into Russia because of the part he played in the Wikileaks story, the PMS said he would get back to people on that issue. Asked if the Prime Minister had a view on whether the Duchess of Cornwall should become Queen, the […]

» Monday, February 7, 2011

AL Megrahi

Asked why documents were being released by the Cabinet Secretary, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that the Prime Minister asked the Cabinet Secretary to review the circumstances surrounding the release of Al Megrahi and the Government’s role in that process. Asked if the Prime Minister’s statement would look to be judgemental […]

Big Society

Asked if it was a good idea to introduce the Big Society at a time of austerity, the PMS replied that a lot of the issues in reports related to local authority funding. Three points were worth making: First, local Government spending accounted for a quarter of all spending and at a time where we […]

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.

» Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Bank Levy

Search and Rescue

Afghanistan

AV Bill

Prisoner Voting

AV Bill

Bank Levy

Trade White Paper

AL Megrahi

Search and Rescue Helicopters

Tax System

Misc

» Monday, February 7, 2011

AL Megrahi

Big Society

Search

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