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?

» Monday, February 7, 2011

Bill of Rights

Asked why a Commission on a Bill of Rights had not been set up, the PMS said that it would be set up. In nine months, the Government had introduced a wide range of policies; this was one thing that it would turn its attention to soon. On whether the Prime Minister was happy with […]

» Friday, February 4, 2011

Ministerial Interests

Asked if the list was the first to come under the present Government, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that it was. The PMS said that several Ministers had been appointed at a later date, but we now had a consolidated list to publish. original source.

Fuel Prices

Asked for the Government’s views on what OPEC had been saying on fuel prices in the UK, the PMS replied that if oil prices went up, it had an impact on the price of petrol at the pump. Put that their argument was that the Government was making more money than the producers through tax, […]

Egypt

Put that Alastair Burt had contacted Vodafone over the use of the network by the Egyptian Government and had the Government intervened in the cases of any other companies, the PMS said that there had been many contacts between the UK Government and the Egyptian Government. In regard to the Vodafone case, if any messages […]

Economy

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with the comments made by the Deputy Prime Minister that people on higher rates of tax would not notice any increases, the PMS replied that there had been an increase in the personal allowance at the time of the last Budget. There had also been a balancing reduction in […]

Big Society

Asked if the Prime Minister was disappointed that Liverpool had pulled out of the Vanguard scheme, the PMS replied that we were currently talking to the people involved in running the project. The project was not run by the council and some of the other Vanguard projects did not have any council involvement. All of […]

» Thursday, February 3, 2011

Big Society

Asked about Liverpool City Council officially withdrawing from the Big Society project, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that it was something we were looking into. We were looking into what the particular issues were and whether there were barriers and problems in that particular project. The PMS added that we were […]

Pope’s Visit

Asked if the PM thought it was appropriate for 1.8million of The Department for International Development’s money to be spent on the Pope’s visit, the PMS said, as he understood it, this was not part of DfID’s budget which contributed towards its aid target of 0.7 per cent of GDP, it was another part of […]

Egypt

Asked what the international community, including the UK, meant when they talked about the change process, the PMS said that we would like to see conversations happening with a broad range of people, including opposition politicians. original source.

IPSA

Asked whether IPSA disputing the 6million figure changed the Government’s response, the PMS said he thought they had made a statement about what they expected the figure to be in the future. The PMS added that the costs this year were expected to be 6million. IPSA had said they intended to reduce that in future […]

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Sir George Young’s comments about the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that Sir George Young was acting in a particular capacity. As he said in his evidence, he was a responding as a statutory consultee under Section 5 of the Parliamentary Standards […]

Egypt

Asked if, following on from this morning’s EU5 statement on Egypt, there had been a change in our position, the PMS said that it was in line with what we had been saying yesterday. Asked why the message hadn’t changed when the situation in Egypt had changed, the PMS said that the statement from the […]

» Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Forestry

Asked if the Prime Minister saying he was looking at all sides of the forestry argument was a signal that he will axe the policy, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that the Government had put out proposals for consultation which were somewhat different to what was being reported. This was not […]

Prisoner Voting

Asked if Ken Clarke was speaking for the Government when he urged MPs not to vote against the prisoner voting motion next week, the PMS replied that the House would express a view on the prisoner voting issue and we would take that view into account alongside our legal advice before setting out precisely what […]

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.

» Monday, February 7, 2011

Bill of Rights

» Friday, February 4, 2011

Ministerial Interests

Fuel Prices

Egypt

Economy

Big Society

» Thursday, February 3, 2011

Big Society

Pope’s Visit

Egypt

IPSA

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority

Egypt

» Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Forestry

Prisoner Voting

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