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, January 25, 2011

Control orders

Asked if control orders had been discussed at Cabinet that morning, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said it had not been, but that it had been discussed earlier in the month when there had been broad agreement on policy. He added there would be an announcement the following day. original source.

BSkyB

Asked if the Prime Minister had met James Murdoch, the PMS answered that the Prime Minister met people working in the media at various times. Details of those meetings were published on a quarterly basis. He added, with regard to the decision on NewsCorp and BSkyB, that it was the decision of the Secretary of […]

Economy

The PMS was asked what the Prime Minister thought of the GDP figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that morning. He answered that the Prime Minister agreed with the Chancellor that they were disappointing. He added that as the UK came out of recession, experience showed that a choppy period was to […]

Misc

Asked whether Downing Street would be getting a cat, the PMS said no decision had been taken. Asked if the Prime Minister was due to announce a new director of communications, the PMS said nothing was imminent. original source.

GDP Figures

Asked if the Prime Minister was confident there wouldn’t be a double dip recession, the PMS said that it was worth noting what the ONS itself had said about the impact of the cold weather on this quarter. It was also worth noting the negative contribution from construction, which was historically a very volatile part […]

Sky

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that Ofcom was doing a good job, the PMS said that Ofcom was an independent regulator. Asked if the Prime Minister still wanted to change or abolish it, the PMS advised people to speak to DCMS about the Government’s policy on Ofcom. Asked if the Prime Minister was happy […]

Misc

Asked if the Prime Minister had any fears over whether his phone had been hacked into, the PMS said no, he did not. Asked about the Russian airport bomb and whether there was any more information, the PMS said that there had only been one British fatality, rather than two, as had been reported in […]

» Monday, January 24, 2011

Lord Strathclyde

Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to Lord Strathclyde today, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that he had not. On whether the Prime Minister still had full confidence in Lord Strathclyde, the PMS replied that he did. original source.

Economy

Asked what the Prime Minister thought about Richard Lambert’s speech, the PMS said that he did not know if the Prime Minister had read the speech. The PMS said Richard Lambert seemed to be making many of the arguments you would expect a business lobby group to be making. Asked whether the Prime Minister would […]

Sky

Asked whether the Prime Minister would be meeting with Rupert Murdoch or had met with James Murdoch, the PMS said that this was not an area he would be getting into, on the basis that there was an established system for informing people of the Prime Minister’s meetings and he did not want to move […]

Misc

Asked if the Prime Minister was looking to push through’ the AV Bill, the PMS said that we would continue to give it time for debate. Asked if the Prime Minister had made any calls to the Met police over fears his phone had been hacked, the PMS replied that he was not aware of […]

Sky

Asked whether the Prime Minister would be meeting Rupert Murdoch this week, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that we wouldn’t normally give a list of the Prime Minister’s meetings at the beginning of a week, but they shouldn’t read anything into that. The process was that we published the meetings that […]

Phone Hacking

On whether the Prime Minister agreed with Chris Huhne that the police needed to look again at the phone hacking allegations, the PMS said that the position was that the CPS were carrying out an assessment of the material held by the Met police. That process was underway and it was up to the CPS […]

Defence

Asked if any consideration was being given to the extension of the Anglo-French Defence Pact to include Germany, the PMS advised people to speak to the MOD. original source.

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, January 25, 2011

Control orders

BSkyB

Economy

Misc

GDP Figures

Sky

Misc

» Monday, January 24, 2011

Lord Strathclyde

Economy

Sky

Misc

Sky

Phone Hacking

Defence

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