Downing Street Says

Asked whether the Prime Minister had a problem regarding the Leader of the opposition asking questions about who his successor may be, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS), said the Prime Minister would answer whatever questions that were put to him. What he fully respected, however, was the authority of the Speaker. Asked whether the Prime Minister felt it was wrong to be asked this questions three weeks ago by the Leader of the Opposition, the PMOS said it was not the Prime Minister’s role to second guess or in anyway question the authority of the Speaker. He respected the authority of the Speaker. Asked whether the Prime Minister or someone on his behalf had complained to the Speaker, the PMOS said the Government fully respected the authority of the Speaker. The Prime Minister would answer whatever the Speaker thought was appropriate for him to answer. That was the Prime Minister’s approach.

Asked whether any representation had been made to the Speaker, the PMOS said he was not aware of any. It was not the role of the PMOS to brief on party matters. However, what he was trying to make clear was the Prime Minister would answer whatever questions were put to him. It was not the Prime Minister’s job to decide what was within the rules of Parliament and what was not. That was for other people.

Asked whether the Prime Minister had cause to meet the Speaker routinely, the PMOS said there were formal occasions when the two met. But, in terms of daily contact that was not part of the Prime Minister’s role. Put that if anybody had raised the question with the Speaker or his clerks it would have been the Government whips rather than the Prime Minister’s office, the PMOS said he thought that was getting into hypothetical information. Put that the PMOS had conveyed the impression that the Prime Minister was relaxed about questions, and he had not made any sort of complaints, the PMOS said no doubt the journalist was about to imply that someone else had. The PMOS was not going to go down that road. Again, it was not the Prime Minister’s role to decide what was and was not appropriate.

Asked whether the Prime Minister had a view of how business in the House of Commons was conducted now compared to the past, the PMOS said he would leave nostalgia to others and just get on with dealing with the reality. Asked whether the Prime Minister recognised the Chancellor was most likely to be his successor, the PMOS said he had nothing further to say on what the Prime Minister had said today or in the past. It was there on record for the journalists to examine endlessly.

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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.

» Wednesday, November 1, 2006

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