Downing Street Says » DPM/Airports/Counter-Terror Operation

Asked which airports the Deputy Prime Minister had visited, the PMS said that he had visited Stansted, Humberside and Doncaster. Put that the person interviewed on the Today Programme had not seemed to share the views of the Deputy Prime Minister and had complained about the security and queues, the PMS said that the Transport Secretary, Douglas Alexander had addressed the points made on the radio this morning. The Deputy Prime Minister had said that he had been impressed by the patient understanding that he had heard expressed by the people on the ground. Asked whether the Deputy Prime Minister had talked to airline chiefs, the PMS referred the journalist to what the Transport Secretary had said. The government was in regular contact with the bodies involved including the airlines.

Asked whether the Deputy Prime Minister mingled with passengers, the PMS said that her understanding was that he had met travelling passengers. At Stansted for example he had been fully briefed by the airport’s managing director, and met staff as well as passengers waiting for flights. Asked why the Deputy Prime Minister had not gone to Heathrow or Gatwick, the PMS that there would have been sensible operational decisions taken on which airports it was best to visit at the time. In answer to further questions, the PMS said that the DPM’s office had made people aware of the visits yesterday. The PMS did not have specific details of the Deputy Prime Minister’s travel arrangements but the decision on which airports to visit had been taken on a sensible operational basis. They had been official visits without media present. Ministers visited people, places and institutions all the time without cameras present. Asked why the Deputy Prime Minister had chosen to visit Humberside and Doncaster instead of Heathrow and Gatwick, the PMS said that the decisions regarding which airports he had visited would have been taken for sensible operational reasons.

Asked whether the government agreed with the airlines that there was a need for more resources at the airports, the PMS referred journalists back to Douglas Alexander comments as he had dealt with that this morning. Asked whether the government recognised that that there seemed to be some division between what BAA and BA thought was necessary, the PMS said that these issues were being dealt with by the Secretary of State for Transport and journalists should look back over his comments this morning. Asked what influence the airlines had on the government’s decision to downgrade the terror alert, the PMS said that the Home Secretary had made clear that the decisions on the threat warning were made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre based purely on intelligence.

Put that the Transport Secretary had said that security needed upgrading but that he had avoided promising more resources for searching, the PMS said that was not what Douglas Alexander had said. He had said that they would consider any requests that they had. It was a case of working in conjunction with the agencies and considering any requests that they made, but it was not just a case of adding more staff it also meant training staff to do the job effectively. Any deployment decision would be made in conjunction with staff and experts on the ground. In answer to further questions, the PMS thought that people were getting ahead of themselves the Transport Secretary had set out this morning that he had not received a formal request and any such request would be considered. It would not just be a case of extra people being deployed immediately additional staff might need training.

Asked about the government’s attitude to passenger profiling, the PMS said that this was a matter for the Department of Transport to comment on. Asked whether the DfT was in the lead on profiling and whether it had been discussed in Cobra, the PMS said that she was not aware of discussions but journalists should check with the department.

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» Monday, August 14, 2006

DPM/Airports/Counter-Terror Operation

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