Downing Street Says » Prime Minister’s press conference

[This is the transcript of one of the Prime Minister’s occasional press conferences; these
are the words of the Prime Minister giving a statement and answering the
questions of journalists. Unlike the PMOS’s briefings, this is a more-or-less
verbatim transcript of the Prime Minister’s words. Such press conferences
happen about once a month, and occasionally more often.]

Prime Minister

First of all I would like to say a few words about the terrible events in Russia over the past few days. I spoke to President Putin yesterday and expressed on behalf of the British people our deep sympathy and horror at last week’s events. We share Russia’s grief in this dark hour for their country and particularly with the people of Beslan for the terrible atrocity that they have suffered. We mourn with them and we express our total and complete solidarity, the British people, with the people of Beslan, with the people of Russia, at this moment. And as I said to President Putin yesterday, whatever the terrorists do, and today we live in a world I’m afraid where this form of terrorism without limits, this form of extraordinary and appalling extremism, can affect any country in the world. We are absolutely united in our determination to defeat that terrorism whether in Russia or anywhere else in the world.

Before I take your questions, I would also like to talk about what I regard as the two most important developments of the Summer: the best school results this country has ever had; and the growing sense both at home and internationally that London can indeed win the Olympic bid for 2012.

First on schools. As pupils and teachers go back this week we are celebrating real hard evidence of sustained improvements in standards from 11 to 18. And what is perhaps most encouraging, as I’ll indicate to you in a moment, is that some of the biggest improvements have happened in some of the most difficult areas with some of the most disadvantaged schools. At age 11 there have been improvements in the best results in both Maths and English and record numbers of pupils are now reaching the expected level, up very, very significantly from where it was, just over half the pupils attaining the right results in 1997, and there are children of course who have benefited throughout from primary education where literacy and numeracy has risen so substantially. For example in Hackney LEA, an area of previous under-performance, has shown an increase of 7% for English and 6% for Maths. In Sunderland the figures are 5%, and in Hartlepool 4%, some of the fastest improving LEAs in the country.

At age 16 we’ve got many secondary schools, some of them with very low levels of performance, now obviously making not just incremental improvement, but fundamental transformation improvement. For example the King’s Academy in Middlesborough, up from 14% to 34% in just 2 years. The Elmshurst (phon.) School in Barnsley, which has seen the proportion of children getting 5 good GCSEs risen from 9% to 31% in the last year alone.

I think one of the most interesting things, however, is that we have done a study, and we’ll produce the figures for you today, in respect of Inner London. And here in Inner London for the first time every single Borough has got percentage rates of above 40% for 5 good GCSEs. In 1997 the pass rates were as low as 25% in certain Boroughs. Now I think that is a very, very substantial improvement. I also don’t share the view that this is because standards have been somehow dumbed down. On the contrary, I think what it indicates is that the extra investment, the hard work by teachers, the hard work by pupils, and the commitment of parents, is seeing a real and substantial change in educational standards in the country.

Now, I believe we can do better still. We’ve got programmes for the expansion of City Academies, extra Specialist Schools. We’ve got a whole series of programmes designed particularly to make sure that young people who are coming in to Secondary School aged 11 without the requisite results actually get the help they need so that they caught up at 14 and are doing well at 16, and I think taken together with the things that we will announce on early years, and already there are reforms on Higher Education, we are on our way – and I’m not putting it higher than that – but on our way to real and transformational change in learning from the early years right through to University and beyond.

Finally, on the Olympics. I think first of all it’s right to say what a fantastic performance it was by Team GB and they did a really brilliant exercise in a Games that thrilled the country. I believe that there is an increasing view, which I noticed when I was out in Athens but I think has also been noted by others too, that London’s bid for 2012 is strong and getting ever stronger. And we’ve got the new Wembley which will be completed by 2006, the Dome will be a 20,000 seat arena by 2007, there’s a whole series of work going on across London. The planning permission for the Olympic Park is being considered by the London Boroughs on Thursday, and a special Olympic Shuttle on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link will actually cut the journey time from King’s Cross through to the Olympic Park to just 7 minutes. So I think that is also taking care of one of the issues that could be a problem.

The Government is 100% behind the bid. Lord Coe will be making a presentation to the Cabinet next Thursday, and we will discuss what more we can do, but I think hosting the Games would be a tremendous thing for the country and a tremendous thing obviously for Britain and British sport.

Now before I take the questions I should just say to you, since I’m sure you are about to ask me about school standards and results, the reshuffle will not be today. It will be by the end of the week, and there’s not a great deal more I can say about that – I think – but anyway Andy, give it a try.

Question

You were just mentioning Team GB just now, and given that you are in the middle of this process, it’s always seen through the sort of prism, and it is again, of different camps in Government and Blairites and Brownites and all the rest of it. Is there any part of you that when you are doing something like this looks at individuals and says well he’s one of mine, or he’s not one of mine and do you, for instance, look at someone like Alan Milburn and say he is a resolute moderniser who in the very, very long distant future might be the kind of person who could take over from me?

Prime Minister

No, I don’t. In the end you do this on the basis of ability, and that’s the way it should be done, and there are people who come from different parts of the Party, but the other thing to emphasise is this that over the past 7 years we’ve delivered economic stability, high levels of jobs, very substantial investment in health and education and also very substantial reform, reform in health and education, and now in law and order increasingly, in welfare too. And this is a Government effort. It’s not me, it’s not Gordon, it’s myself, Gordon and the whole of the team and that’s the way it should be.

Question

At the very least the timing of Andrew Smith’s resignation was unhelpful to you, and as we know from the letters it was against your own will. Now this is not the first time this has happened. Alan Milburn left the Government, Estelle Morris also resigned as a Cabinet Minister. Now I wonder what that tells you about the underlying morale of your government team, or indeed your qualities of leadership as far as picking him?

Prime Minister

I think what it tells you is that from time to time people step down from government, and as far as I’m aware I’m not to the first Prime Minister to whom that has happened.

Question

Prime Minister

Is it? You’ve done the statistics have you? I really don’t think that’s right, and I think from time to time people will decide, particularly if they’ve been many years in government, that they don’t want to be in government. That’s fine, that’s their prerogative. But you know I do think, I mean obviously there’s lots of speculation that rolls round at a time like this, but I’m only half joking when I say to you in the end I don’t think the public pays a great deal of attention to that, but I think they will to school results, to whether the NHS is improving, to whether we really are gripping issues to do with asylum and immigration and crime, whether the economy is doing well or not. I think ultimately those are the issues we have got to concentrate on. And believe it or not when you are Prime Minister and you’ve set aside certain time in order to make a change in your government, you set aside that time, and you don’t always take the decisions on the timetable that everyone else assumes. You work through it and you get it done when you get it done, but you’ve got a host of other things going on at the same time.

Question

Why does Gordon Brown appear to have a veto over who gets what job in your government?

Prime Minister

Well he doesn’t and neither does anyone else is the simple answer to that, and as I say I don’t think there has ever been a reshuffle, or certainly not in my experience, but I think even going back under the Conservative years where there hasn’t been massive speculation. There is, it’s part of the village which we all inhabit. But all I would say to you is that it often bears no relationship to what is actually going on, and secondly that, as I say, there are more important things for us to consider.

Question

Prime Minister

Question

Prime Minister, beyond the personalities, beyond who’s going to be in and who’s going to be out, it would be extraordinary at this stage if there wasn’t a discussion going on about the nature of a third term, were you to win one, what the Labour Party’s agenda should be. Could you give us a flavour of that kind of discussion?

Prime Minister

Yes I can. I think everyone understands that we have delivered certain things in the past few years. Levels of economic stability, high levels of employment, reductions in unemployment, massive investment in health and education, in law and order. But we also know that there are certain things that we have now got to deal with. There are new challenges that come up. In an era of globalisation, how do we make our economy more competitive. How do we make sure that we are getting more people who are economically inactive off benefit and into work. How do we deal with the issues of an ageing population. How do we make sure that we provide not just more investment in education but real quality secondary schools that people want to send their children to, how we provide choice within the National Health Service, how we make sure that issues to do with crime and drugs and so on. There’s a huge agenda there and I think that the government that I lead I would say is the most ideologically united government that I can imagine for a very long time, and I think that is because we came in our long years of opposition to an understanding that Labour wanted to govern, and govern for significant periods of time, it had to combine a commitment to economic efficiency with its traditional commitment to social justice, and I think by and large that’s what we’ve achieved, at least I hope we have.

Question

Prime Minister

Well, yes, but I don’t think there’s a great difference. I think people want to move as fast as it is sensible to go, and I think if you take for example an area like welfare reform, we’ve come a very long way. There have been huge reductions in unemployment, but everyone knows outside of those who are entitled to claim unemployment benefit, there are also people who are economically inactive but who would want to work if they were able to work. But we’ve got pilot programmes that are underway trying to help those people off benefit and into work and we’ve also got a discussion going on as to how we make sure that in future those people that get onto incapacity benefit are entitled to do so. Now that’s a discussion that’s been going on, I can assure you, with absolutely no problem or disagreement between any of the people engaged in it.

Question

You’ve spoken Prime Minister about issues that have got to be concentrated on. Do you personally want a hunting ban in force by the next Election?

Prime Minister

Well, I think in relation to hunting my personal position remains the same, but the announcement we make on that we should make to Parliament first, and we will do that.

Question

A big week next week at Leeds Castle. Do you believe a deal will be possible without the IRA disappearing, and do you think that Ian Paisley is interested in a deal considering his comments of last week and if that deal does take place it does mean sharing power, the DUP and Sinn Fein.

Prime Minister

I believe that a deal is possible. If we don’t get one at Leeds Castle, then I think we’ve got to look for another way forward. There will be no deal unless two things happen. One that it is clear that any party that wants to sit in government is not connected in any shape or form with paramilitary activity, and that all paramilitary activity ceases. All of it, completely. The other precondition is that if that happens, if to put it bluntly Republicans give up violence, and give it up completely and verifiably, then it is right that there is then a power-sharing executive with Unionism. And those are the two preconditions. I hope that both sides realise that and if there’s any way forward that we can achieve, we will achieve it at Leeds Castle, and if we can’t then we are going to have to look for another way forward, because we cannot have this endless negotiation.

Question

But you heard what Ian Paisley said last week. It wasn’t helpful was it for you?

Prime Minister

Well you know it’s a bit like when you read the statements that people make in Northern Ireland, and sometimes they appear to be helpful, and sometimes they appear to be unhelpful, but I never quite know what they are supposed to mean.

Question

Prime Minister

But I don’t know whether the onus is on us, in the end. The onus is on those engaged in paramilitary activity to stop it completely, and the reason we’ve held this up for 2 years now is because we haven’t had that undertaking in a clear enough form. But let’s be quite clear, if that undertaking does come through and is verified and it actually happens, then Unionism has got to be prepared to share power with democratically elected politicians. That is absolutely right. So I don’t think it is a complicated deal, you know. It’s only complicated if people try and think there’s some way of fudging either one of those conditions, and that can’t be done.

Question

How important are the challenges ahead for whoever becomes Work and Pensions Secretary, and can you give us some of your thinking about the way that you should deal with what people have called the pensions crisis?

Prime Minister

I think the two big issues are in relation to pensions and in relation to this question of how we make sure that we, insofar as possible, are spending welfare money on the things we really want to spend it on, and so if there are people that are economically inactive and want to work, then we are actually helping them off benefit and into work. Now in respect of pensions, this is the reason why last year we set up Adair Turner’s Commission. That will report some time I think in October. And that will give us at least the basis of analysis that I think we can have a genuine public debate about this. And all of this is part of the changing agenda. When you talked to me in 1997 if we talked about pensions we would have meant pensioners. Today we mean people working who are worried about providing for themselves when they become pensioners. In 1997 we would have been talking about high levels of unemployment. Today we are talking not so much about people claiming unemployment benefit, those numbers have substantially reduced, but actually how we can get people who are economically inactive off benefit and into work. Now that’s the new agenda. But I want to emphasise one thing to you. This is an agenda that Andrew and ourselves are working on very closely, and as he himself has said today there was no disagreement about policy at all between us.

Question

Prime Minister, do you understand the anger felt by many people when they see the likes of Omar Bakhri Mohammed, who wishes this country nothing but harm, accommodated and the fact that he’s not deported and can live on benefits. And yet on the other hand you have 500 former members of the Gurkha Rifles who’ve risked their own lives defending this country whose applications for British citizenship seem to be being obstructed by the Home Office. Do you think their bravery and service to this country entitles them to be at the front of the queue for British citizenship, and on the other hand what can be done with the likes of these radical clerics who preach hate.

Prime Minister

I do understand that. I understand the anger very well and it doesn’t actually surprise me. The issue to do with the Gurkhas we are looking at very carefully and I hope we can say some things on that in the next few weeks. In respect of the other issue. We have tightened the law very considerably, and we’ve also tightened our ability to deport people. But in the end we have to work within a framework set down by the Courts as well, but I can assure we keep this under constant review and I think there’s no doubt at all that with the incidence of international terrorism at the moment, that it’s important – and I’m not making any allegations in respect of the particular individual – that it is important the whole time we are seeing how the framework of law can be tightened still further.

Question

Prime Minister, you have … a genuine public debate on pensions, but you’ve been in office for 7 years and your record on pension reform has been a failure from the stakeholder shambles right through to the prospect that tens of thousands, if not more, people who are facing retirement suddenly discover that their life-savings have evaporated and they are facing a retirement in fear, as you described it, rather than in enjoyment the other day. If you weren’t going to sack Andrew Smith, can you give us one good reason why not?

Prime Minister

Well I can actually, yes, because it is not true to say that all the things we’ve done on pensions have failed. We have very substantially lifted the income of the poorest pensioners in the country. The Pension Protection Legislation will actually deal with the very point that you’re making, and we’re the first government to tackle this issue, and in respect of the rest of it, every single government around the world is grappling with this. Now I agree our first priority on coming into government was to focus on the poverty of the poorest pensioners in our country and I could show you pensioners in my constituency and every constituency in the country whose levels of income have been significantly raised by what a Labour Government has done. However it is true that those issues to do with future provision for pensions are very salient, and very difficult. That’s why we established the commission last year and we will act on its recommendations, but these have got to be proposals that stand the test of time, over a long period of time, and I think if you look round the rest of Europe at the moment you will probably see even worse issues to do with pensions, and the difficulties for government in providing for pensions. So what we want is a proper and a structured debate and we will come forward with proposals to deal with it.

Question

We are coming to the end of a parliamentary session, you have got a lot of Bills, you have got this Pension Bill to get through, as whatever or not you decide to do on foxhunting. What is your view on the House of Lords, the remaining 90 or so, Hereditary Peers. If they frustrate the government over the next few weeks, will you remove them before the next election or immediately afterwards?

Prime Minister

My view remains the same as it has always been, which is that we should take forward House of Lords reform, but that is unrelated to any current issues before the House of Lords.

Question

Do you have any plans over the coming weeks to front up part of the Yes Campaign for a regional assembly, or are you going to leave it all to John Prescott, reinforcing the view that you personally aren’t terribly keen on Assemblies. And would a stand alone north-east assembly really make sense now that you have abandoned plans for Yorkshire and the north-west?

Prime Minister

I think the final decision as to whether it makes sense or not is up to the people in the north-east. I will certainly be involved in the campaign, and I think one thing that I think people in the north-east understand is that if the possibility of a regional assembly, with real power to influence things in the north-east, can both lead to a greater concentration of effort and energy in bringing investment and jobs to the north-east, in improving the systems of public infrastructure there, and can also lead to a change in local government which gives us a more effective system of local government, then I think people will support it. But ultimately this is a democratic decision, but I will certainly be involved with it, yes.

Question

When Lord Coe delivers his presentation to the Cabinet next Thursday, will there be a Minister for the Olympics?

Prime Minister

We have got a Minister for the Olympics. I don’t honestly think that is the issue, you know. The Ministerial team, headed by Tessa Jowell, is working extremely well with Lord Coe and with the bid. I think, if I can say this to you very frankly, because in my two days in Athens I met a lot of members of the Olympic Committee and I had a good opportunity to study this carefully, I think in technical terms our bid is making ground very fast indeed. I think most people understand it is a very, very strong technical bid. The bid team has done an excellent job. I think what we have now got to do is go out and show to people that the country as a whole is absolutely behind it, and that what we will achieve by having the Olympics in London is not just a good Olympics for three weeks, but a lasting sporting legacy for the country, and I think these are the issues that we need to grapple with now. And the Ministerial team is working very closely with the bid team. I don’t think saying a Minister only doing the Olympics at this stage at any rate is necessary, and I can assure you this is something I personally will take a great interest in as well.

Question

What do you say to those in your own party who fear that in trying to bring back Alan Milburn and in some way changing Ian McCartney’s role, that you are again rejecting the views of the traditional Labour Party?

Prime Minister

Question

Prime Minister

Why not wait for the reshuffle, I think Elinor really. I can’t get into those speculations, as I think you probably know.

Question

Do you believe the IRA still poses a significant threat to British people, or is it effectively over bar the symbolism?

Prime Minister

That is a very good question. I think that there is a clear understanding across the Republican movement that the way of violence does not offer any hope, that if there were to be a return to full scale violence that would be a complete cul-de-sac for any of the aims that Republicanism wants to achieve. I think at the same time though, what people have got to understand is that you can’t have a lasting peace deal on the basis of a little bit of violence. We can’t be in a position, and this is what really changed, this is why I made that speech two years ago, we can’t be in a situation where you say well as long as there is not a bombing campaign targeted at Britain then so-called punishment beatings and all the rest of it are somehow legitimate. I think that the whole issue has changed in Northern Ireland and the attitudes of Republicans have changed, but if we want to make this peace lasting and have a genuine democratic power sharing Executive where Republicans, and Nationalists and Unionists can sit down in government together, there has to be an understanding that all forms of violence, or the threat of violence, have got to cease. That is why we have not had an Executive for two years. So I think that is really the way I would answer it.

Question

You have said you want to tell Parliament first about your plans for hunting, but on the other hand we are reliably informed that you are going to allow your own instincts for a compromise to be overruled by your back-benchers who want it banned. That doesn’t sound very much in character with you, but let that pass. At the same time as you are being intolerant on hunting, you are being wildly permissive about boozing and gambling, you are moving towards legislation which would allow round the clock drinking, a huge extension of gambling in this country. Many people are worried about that as a priority for government, especially for a Labour government. What is it all about?

Prime Minister

Well on the first I am afraid you are just going to have to wait. On the second, I don’t agree that is what we are doing, but we are liberalising …

Question

Prime Minister

I have studied the small print, I haven’t quite figured you out, but never mind. But actually that is not what we are doing. In respect of licensing, we are going to extend licensing hours, but why shouldn’t we? Over the rest of Europe people are perfectly able to have extended licensing hours without it leading to all these terrible things. And in respect of gambling, actually we are trying to make sense of up-dating what is an out-dated legal framework. It is not a question of saying there is going to be boozing and gambling encouraged by government, it is getting a sensible legislative framework, and I think if you actually look at the details of it you will find that that is right. I am not persuading you, am I Mike?

Question

You are trying to stop us drinking more. John Reid, how does he square with this policy? You ask why we are doing it, we are puzzled Prime Minister.

Prime Minister

Well let me try and remove the puzzlement. In the end it is your decision, right, as to how much you drink. We can tell you what the health difficulties may be if people drink too much, I think they probably know that. But why on earth should we, virtually alone of any European country I know, have extremely restrictive licensing laws when actually surely we should be telling people about the need to drink sensibly, not to abuse alcohol, but actually allowing them the greater freedom. That is what I think.

Question

On your conversation with President Putin, did you share his anger at the comments by the Dutch Presidency? And on Ireland, you mentioned earlier that if there is no agreement you will have to go on by another route. What do you see are the options for going on by another route?

Prime Minister

On the first, I didn’t discuss, I think it was the Dutch Foreign Minister’s comments. But I just want to make it clear, particularly on this day of mourning for people in Russia, I think it is right that we concentrate on showing our solidarity with the Russian people, in the light of what I think is something so horrific many people can scarcely come to terms with it; and secondly to say we have got to ensure, every single one of us in different countries around the world, because all of us face this new virulent extreme form of terrorism, that we stand in complete solidarity with Russia, with the Russian people, in saying these people will not prevail. And whatever political causes people have, there can be absolutely no excuse whatever in pursuing them in this way. I think many people here, but right round the world, will have been in a state of profound shock that anyone could be so evil as to use children in this way. To kill and maim innocent people is I am afraid a feature of terrorism, to kill and maim innocent children in this way is something that I think has taken terrorism to a different, even more depraved, level and our response should be one of complete solidarity with Russia, with the Russian people.

On Ireland, I don’t think it is very sensible to discuss Plan B at this stage. But I think that as Ken and others would say, if we pop up at yet another press conference at the conclusion of two days talks and say there has been a very nice atmosphere and let’s see if we can work out a way forward, I think that people will be entitled to be somewhat cynical about it. I think for people in Northern Ireland, they know what the issues are, they want to know from both sides are you really up for this or not?

Question

You have expressed your solidarity with the Russian people over the school massacre. Do you believe that Chechen terrorism is a specific phenomenon on its own, or do you see this as part of a worldwide terrorist organisation. Do you believe there were al Queda links in this case, and do you think the time has come for the European Union to attempt to get involved in finding some kind of settlement in Chechnya? And on the wider question, you were the first person to say that business could be done with President Putin, even before he was elected. How do you think his relations with the west are going to be affected by recent events, not just the terrorism, but the pressures on the media, the pursuit of Yukos and so on?

Prime Minister

Well I think there are some very legitimate issues in what you have just said, but I feel today, which is a day of mourning for Russia, they are not the time really to explore them, if I can say this to you. And the only point I would make is that what we are witnessing with this, and I think it is a new type of extreme terrorism, it is terrorism without limits, it is terrorism that is completely indifferent to the suffering, as we have seen even of small children, and I do think the world has just, whatever the political issues, got to stand in complete solidarity with the victims of that, and say that there is a civilised world out there that is not going to tolerate having our affairs determined by people such as these.

Question

Do you think you can ever actually win the war on terrorism and how could you possibly define such a victory?

Prime Minister

We can win it, and I believe ultimately we will win. But it is a war that we are fighting and I have set out many times how I think it has to be done. But yes, we can win it, but it is going to require an emphasis not just on security, but obviously on tackling other issues too.

Question

Britain voted in favour of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the Lebanon. What would happen if these forces refuse to comply with the resolution?

Prime Minister

Well we would just have to consider, but I think people’s views on this are very clear and the instructions have been given, we just have to track it carefully, but I can’t say what would happen at this point in time.

Question

You have obviously had a good holiday. Have you used your holiday at all to reflect on how much longer you might want to serve as Prime Minister? And one thing that is evident from your comments is that you have become infected with the Olympic spirit to some extent, is it conceivable that you might want to go on as Prime Minister and see us have the Olympics here in London?

Prime Minister

To 2012 you mean? Yes, and I also want to compete in them too. You haven’t spent all summer thinking up that one, have you, because that would worry me.

Question

There have been published reports here that a Labour Party emissary was in the States, letting it be known that Labour really would like to see President Bush defeated. And I have also talked to Labour MPs here who say that Bush’s invoking of your name in your image actually harms Labour domestically politically because Bush himself is so unpopular here. What is your view of the US election and is there any truth in any of these reports?

Prime Minister

This is the moment where I decide should we have an alternative story. No, I am not getting into the Presidential elections, that is a matter for you and the American people, so there we are.

Question

However much you might want to move the agenda on from the war and the fallout from the war, it is a big problem for you in Labour Party circles. What are you going to do to address that lack of trust that Labour activists have in you, and do you think Michael Martin should allow Adam Price’s motion on your impeachment to go ahead?

Prime Minister

I don’t think I would be so presumptuous as to give the Speaker any advice on that. I think that in respect of the first, it is not a question of moving on, we have to sort out the situation in Iraq, indeed in Afghanistan as well, because if Iraq and Afghanistan go in the right way and become countries at least en route to stability and democracy, that is a huge huge blow to this extreme terrorism, a huge blow, because it will completely contradict the propaganda that is used to recruit people to this form of terrorism. So I am not moving on from that at all, but obviously there is a big domestic agenda there. If you look at the meetings I have held and the time I have spent over the last year, although obviously for perfectly natural reasons Iraq has often occupied the headlines, what has occupied my time has been mainly the domestic agenda and therefore you deal with both. But you know you live in a world today where the international issues are also impinged, that is just the way it is, and I think that the Labour Party as a party is actually in very good heart about the forward agenda, I think they want it, they are up for doing it.

Question

The Scottish Parliament opened for business this morning at a cost of £431 million. Does that represent value for money?

Prime Minister

I refer you to what Jack McConnell said earlier today about that and I think now that it has happened I hope everyone is very happy and … in it, and that is really all I want to say.

Question

Is there an exit strategy from Iraq or are troops going to stay there until the Americans decide to go home? And if there is an exit strategy, what is it as independent from the Americans?

Prime Minister

Yes there is an exit strategy – we go when the job is done. And the job we are trying to do is to help the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government that has been agreed by the United Nations to allow the future of Iraq to be determined by Iraqis at the ballot box, rather than by groups of terrorists or former supporters of Saddam Hussein who want to stop us. There is a perfectly simple struggle going on in Iraq, it is a struggle between those people that believe that people in Iraq should not face a future that is a choice between an extremist religious government and Saddam Hussein or someone like him, but that Iraq and Iraqis could actually manage their affairs in a democratic way, and I am sure that is what they want and our exit strategy is determined by the achievement of our objectives, and however difficult it is we will see it through and achieve them.

Question

Prime Minister

Well of course the Americans are linked with all our coalition partners, but I think we are all in the same position in respect of that and that is what we want to achieve and it is very important we do for the reasons I have given. Because if you just imagine, if Iraq is able, these people want to stop us, look what they are doing in Afghanistan, there are people being mown down in Afghanistan as they try and register to vote, and yet 10 million of them have registered to vote. That is the answer to people who say oh well these people they can’t really handle democracy, they don’t want it. 10 million people, despite the threat of assassination, go and register to vote in Afghanistan. Why? Because they want their country to be decided not by warlords or by the Taliban, but by them, and it is the same in Iraq, it is the same issue. And if we get the right result there, the impact of that will be hugely powerful right across the world because then these extremists who want to try and attract people to their cause by saying oh the Americans want to go and suppress Muslim people, they want to take over their oil or their wealth, or stop them practising the Muslim religion, that will be shown for the false propaganda that it is, and that of course is why the terrorists are so keen to stop us in Afghanistan and Iraq. Funnily enough I think sometimes they have got a clearer idea of what is at stake than we do.

Question

Can you just explain to us how hard you worked to convince Andrew Smith to stay on?

Prime Minister

I think we have already gone into that. We both said that in the exchange of letters that we had and there is no point in adding to it.

Question

What advice have you received on how much a hunting ban could cost in terms of compensation and in enforcement, and also what advice have you received on how many hundreds of thousands of people might just ignore it?

Prime Minister

Well as I have always said, there will be a way of resolving this in this parliament and we will make an announcement on it in due course, and any of these issues we can deal with it then.

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Prime Minister

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The ban on hunting, it is a way of life for many rural communities. Why, when you say yourself the priorities lie with asylum, health, education and so on, are you still so determined to ban it?

Prime Minister

Well it is a question of fulfilling the promise that we made that we would allow this issue to be resolved in this parliament, and that is what we have got to do, and as I say it has been a free vote throughout and I think people sometimes forget that.

Question

President Bush has gone as far as admitting some kind of mistakes were made in Iraq in the pre-war planning. Don’t you think that it is time now for you to follow suit and maybe that will help heal the rift within your own party and the country at large? And secondly, do you think it is helpful for creating a democratic Iraq for the Provisional government to go on curbing the freedom of the press?

Prime Minister

I think there is an issue that I will allow you to have out with Dr Allawi about that, and there will be maybe a chance for us to discuss that in the coming few weeks. But I would just say to you in respect of the first part, sure, I have no doubt when you look back over this you can always see things that could have been done better, or mistakes that we made. I think most of us thought that the key issue facing us after the military victory would be a humanitarian situation. Now actually that was what most people feared and that was what a lot of the planning went to do, but what we have now got is a situation where once I think a lot of these groups could see that what we intended to do was stabilise the country and actually hand the power to the Iraqis, because that is what we are doing, now as I say blessed and certified by the United Nations, they have set about trying to stop us. So whatever the issues and the debates you could have about mistakes that were made here or there in respect of pre-war planning, the issue we have got today is absolutely simple, the issue is do we allow the Iraqis to determine their affairs by the ballot box, or do we allow their affairs to be determined by a gang of terrorists? That is the issue. Sometimes people say to me it is terrible the loss of life in Iraq, and I say yes of course it is terrible, but we are not causing the loss of life in Iraq today, we are trying to stop the loss of life, we are trying to stop people blowing up wholly innocent people, contractors who are trying to repair the power and oil installations, members of the United Nations, people who are teachers at university, people who are members of a government blessed by the United Nations assassinated in the street. That is what we are trying to do, we are trying to say these people who are engaged in these activities should not be able to determine the future of Iraq, Iraqi people should determine that, and who they then vote for, that is up to them, but it should be done by a democratic vote and I would have hoped frankly that yourselves and others would be behind Iraqi people on that. After all, wouldn’t it be a fantastic thing in the Middle East if we actually had real functioning democracy in some countries there?

Question

You have invested a lot of time and energy in the current peace process. If a deal can’t be done at Leeds next week, and as you say you have to look for that other way forward, how much of a personal failure is it, or would you view it in any way as a personal failure?

Prime Minister

I would certainly regard it as a personal disappointment, because as you say I have invested a great deal of time in this. But whether it is a personal disappointment or indeed failure for me is neither here nor there, the point is that it will represent a failure of the political process in Northern Ireland, and that is what is important. You know I was just talking to some people from Northern Ireland yesterday, and I don’t mean politicians, I mean people who were there for the reception on childcare, and they were saying how much things have improved in Northern Ireland over the past few years, and they have. But my point to people the whole time is the improvement will only take root if it is backed up by a durable lasting political settlement, and I don’t know exactly what will happen if we don’t manage to find that way through, but it is pretty simple, isn’t it? Most people in Northern Ireland would say the IRA have got to stop the violence completely and absolutely, no more ifs, buts and ambiguities, and the Unionists, if they do do that, should go into government with them because then they are a democratic party like other democratic parties. There is nothing complicated about it, and the trouble is in the end I can only do so much in saying to people well you know this is what I think and this is what I think you should do, but in the end they are going to have to do it. And the one thing I would urge people in Northern Ireland to do, ahead of those talks, is to say to the political leaders we want you to resolve this, we want a proper devolved power-sharing Executive back in operation in Northern Ireland.

Question

Could you explain what prompted the decision to send a Minister to North Korea at this particular time and what you realistically hope can be achieved given that it is only a Junior Minister going?

Prime Minister

I think it is important to send a very clear message to North Korea about the priority we attach to North Korea getting into a proper dialogue, which means that we deal with the nuclear arms issue in relation to North Korea. We do this without any doubts or illusions about the nature of the regime in North Korea, how it treats its own people and the programmes that we think they are engaged in, but I think it is important to reinforce that message and that is why a Junior Minister has gone there. Do I think it will work? I don’t know, you must ask me that when he comes back.

Question

Prime Minister

Well I have just said a moment or two ago about our standing in complete solidarity with Russia and the Russian people, and that goes for me as well, and I spoke to President Putin yesterday and I expressed my sympathy for the Russian people and also my support for him in the difficult decisions he has to take, and I really think on this day when Russia is in mourning we should concentrate our thoughts on the victims of this terrorist aggression and our total determination to make sure that people who are prepared to do this, even to children, should not in any shape or form succeed in the aims they set themselves.

Question

How determined are you that any allegations of misconduct, unlawful activity, criminal activity, by British Service personnel in Iraq should be investigated thoroughly and could you tell us anything about where we are with that now because I know a number of investigations were ongoing.

Prime Minister

Obviously there are rules that our soldiers abide by, and incidentally the vast majority of them do the whole time, and British soldiers have done a fantastic job, an amazing job in Basra and elsewhere in Iraq. But anyone who commits a criminal offence will be prosecuted, as we have made clear. I think the Attorney General may say a little bit more about this in due course. But I do think it is important that every single time we look at the issue of British soldiers in Iraq, and we as a democratic country make sure that they adhere to high standards, and where they don’t we take action, but the vast bulk of British soldiers in Iraq, as elsewhere, are absolute heroes who do a fantastic job on behalf of this country and indeed for local people too.

Question

You are trying to be very optimistic about the situation in Iraq, but what is your strategy in case it doesn’t go as well as you think and it is dragging on and becoming maybe like another intifada. What would it mean for you as Prime Minister?

Prime Minister

I don’t know that I am expressing optimism so much as determination. There is a big struggle, literally a life-death struggle going on in Iraq, but I have got no doubt which side we should be on, and even if people totally disagree with the decision to remove Saddam Hussein and to go to war in Iraq, I hope there is no ambivalence anywhere, especially now that the United Nations has laid down its own position and where we are now. We are for people in Iraq being able to determine their own future democratically and we are absolutely determined to let the terrorists no leeway at all, no ability to influence that process, and I think this is a very, very big moment, because as I said earlier, if Afghanistan and Iraq turn out to be stable democratic countries, still Muslim countries in charge of their own destiny, that is a huge blow to the propaganda of the extremists and that is why they are important and that is why it is now very, very important. And it is correct that a lot of outside terrorists are coming into Iraq in order to try and prevent the democratic process working, and that is what they are going to do, that is what they are trying to do, they are trying to disrupt it, that is why they are trying to disrupt the people who make the oil, when they prepare the ground for reconstruction in Iraq and trying to make things better for people in Iraq they are assassinated, that is what these guys are trying to do, because they know if we make the place better that is bad for them. So that is what it is about and it is not a question of being optimistic, I am very realistic about the struggle we face in Iraq but I am also very determined about it.

Question

As you know, two French reporters are still hostages in Iraq and obviously this kidnapping created deep concern and disbelief in France. Does it confirm your view that countries like France were wrong to believe that they would be kept out of trouble because they opposed the war in Iraq?

Prime Minister

I don’t actually think that anybody in France, certainly not President Chirac, was under any illusions about terrorism and what it could do, and really all I would say to you is that I support very much what President Chirac is doing, what the French people are doing, to try and secure the release of the hostages and I hope that that succeeds, it certainly should succeed. And I don’t really think it is helpful to re-run the issue of whether the Iraq war was right or wrong in that context. I think we all know the threat that terrorism poses in France and elsewhere and we work very closely with the French government across many, many areas, as we do with other European partners in order to combat it.

Question

There seems to be a bit of confusion when using the word terrorism, in the Arab world especially. We feel that there is a mixing between terrorism acts by desperate groups or individuals and terrorism by the state, state terrorism, like what is happening for instance in the occupied territories. In the occupied territories we know that there are desperate individuals and groups committing terrorist acts, but we know also that the State of Israel itself is committing terrorism against the occupied people. What do you think in the British government?

Prime Minister

Israel has taken certain actions of reprisal, targeting people in Hamas and elsewhere and we have made our views clear on that. But I really don’t think we can have any form of excuse for people going and deliberately killing as many innocent people as they can by terrorist acts. I think we have got to be extremely careful of ending up with some sort of moral equivalent in terms of what is happening, and I would just simply say to you that the single best thing that could happen to move on many of these conflicts around the world is that the terrorism stops. As I say, we have made our criticisms of Israeli policy in certain regards and we have made it very clear here and in the United Nations and elsewhere, but I can assure you of one thing, if the terrorism actually stops then you would find the international community, and I believe this includes the United States of America, willing to make sure people got back into the road map, back towards the two state solution that the Israelis, the majority of them, and the Palestinians want to see. But I really don’t think, particularly at this moment and with what has happened in Russia, we should have any sense of the people who are doing this have any legitimacy whatever in relation to what they are doing, it is appalling and atrocious. Now as I say, there are reprisals being taken by the Israeli government and we have made our position clear on that, but that is in my view not the same, whatever criticisms we have that is not the same. I would simply say to you that the single most important thing we could do internationally is to make it clear that if the terrorism stops we stand ready to make sure that the peace process moves forward, and I know of what huge importance it would be if we managed to get this Middle East peace process back under way. Now it may be difficult, especially as you have got an election coming up in the United States and all the rest of it, it is difficult at the moment to make much progress, but I would make it quite clear so far as I am concerned that after that election this has got to be a major priority for the international community, we have got to take this forward, but the way to take it forward is negotiation, not people being killed.

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» Tuesday, September 7, 2004

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