Downing Street Says » 2004

» Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Bob Woodward

Asked for a reaction to the claim in Bob Woodward's book that the US authorities had passed on to the British authorities the concerns of the CIA Director that the 45-minute claim in the dossier was 'rubbish', the PMOS said that we never commented on intelligence matters. We had also resisted the temptation to add to the publicity of other books in the past and would do so with Mr Woodward's book as well. Put to him that the 45-minute claim had been mentioned four times in a public dossier and had been mentioned twice by the Prime Minister and that it was therefore not an insignificant point, the PMOS said that he was being asked about conversations between intelligence agencies, as well as matters which were being considered by the Butler Inquiry. It would therefore be wrong on both points to comment.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (2)

Iraq

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about the impending and threatened withdrawal of Coalition troops from Iraq, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) pointed out that over thirty countries still had troops in Iraq. He also noted that, as serious as the violence was, particularly in the light of this morning's attacks, it was not universal in Iraq. The majority of the country remained calm and peaceful. On the whole, Iraqi political opinion supported the transition that was taking place. We had been warning for some time that there would be those who would step up their terrorist activities in the run-up to the 30 June deadline to try to prevent the transition. We would not allow them to succeed, as the Prime Minister had underlined to the House today.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

European Constitution

Asked if the Prime Minister would follow the example of the Irish Government in its referendum on the Nice Treaty by holding a second referendum if the first one produced a negative result, the PMOS said it was important for people to understand that the Government would only sign up to the Constitution if it protected our red lines. Parliament would then have an opportunity to scrutinise the document in detail, after which the public would be able to make their own judgement in a referendum. Clearly, the signing of the Constitution in the first place would present a positive case for it in any referendum campaign. It would also make a positive case for engagement in Europe. That was why the Government was not focussing its attention on what might happen if it lost the vote. It was going into the referendum intending to win it. Put to him that people were entitled to know what the Prime Minister would do if there was a no vote in the light of the fact that the Prime Minister, himself, had asked the Opposition Leader this question in PMQs today, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had not ducked the issue in PMQs. He had dealt with it and had made the analogy with Ireland, as was entirely appropriate: we would sit down and discuss the way forward with our European partners. The PMOS said that he hadn't ducked the issue either over the last couple of days, having told journalists repeatedly that a no vote would put the UK in a difficult situation because we would have to persuade the other twenty-four member states to agree to any amendments we might make. However, as he had underlined consistently, the Government's position was that we would not enter a referendum campaign with the intention of losing it. We would focus our attention on winning it, not on what happened afterwards.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Archbishop of Canterbury

Asked for a reaction to the criticism of the Government expressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday, the PMOS said that he had nothing to add to what had already been said about this matter.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Iraq

Asked if the Police Training Academy which had been bombed in Basra this morning was one which the Prime Minister had visited in January, the PMOS said confirmed that it was. He underlined that the attacks today illustrated the nature of the terrorism we were facing in Iraq. This was not terrorism which was aimed at one particular group or one particular part of the coalition. It was aimed at the process of democratisation and the introduction of civic society in Iraq.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

European Constitution

Asked what action the Government would take were the result of the referendum to be a no, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that he had dealt with this matter at great length at yesterday afternoon's press briefing. As he had underlined, it was impossible to predict the circumstances in which such a vote would take place. It was important for people to recognise that the Government would only sign up to the Constitution if it met our red lines. Parliament would then scrutinise the document, after which it would go to a public vote, which the Government fully intended to win. Asked if any contingency plans had been put in place in the event of a no vote, the PMOS said that the Government was not going to go into the referendum with the intention of losing it. He pointed out that a no vote would also place this country in a difficult position because we would have to convince the other twenty-four European member states to agree to any changes.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (3)

Abu Hamza/Legal Aid

Asked if the Government believed that Abu Hamza should receive legal aid, the PMOS said that since Abu Hamza was on the UN Security List as an Al Qaida associate, he needed to apply to the Treasury for a special licence to receive legal aid. We were unable to comment until that was done.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (2)

» Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Immigration Stocktake

Asked when the immigration summit would take place, the PMOS said that it had had to be postponed from today because of Parliamentary business. It would now be held tomorrow. Journalists would have the opportunity to question the Prime Minister about it at his monthly press conference on Thursday.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

European Constitution

Asked to clarify the situation should the Government still be in power at the time of the referendum and the result of the vote was 'no', the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that as a Civil Servant he was unable to comment on party political matters. However, were a referendum to take place, the Government would obviously set out to win it. It was important to recognise that we would only agree to the Constitution if it met our red lines. Therefore, if the proper issues were put to the electorate in a detailed way after having gone through the process of Parliamentary scrutiny, the Government believed it would win. That said, the vote would obviously depend on circumstances at the time which no one could possibly predict in the here and now. He pointed out that a no vote would also place this country in a difficult position because we would have to convince the other twenty-four European member states to agree to our changes to the Constitution, which would be very complex to do. Asked if it would be 'conceivable' that the Government would have to renegotiate Britain's basic membership of the EU in the event of a no vote, the PMOS said that no one should underestimate the difficulty of convincing twenty-four other countries to accept changes to a Constitution to which they had agreed - and, indeed, to which we would only have agreed in the first place because we believed that it respected our red lines. Asked if that meant that the Treaty would be effectively non-amendable when it was debated in Parliament, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had dealt with this issue in the House today. The Constitution would be debated in the same way that other EU Treaties, such as Maastricht, had been debated in the past. In this case, however, it would be open to proper scrutiny to enable the public to obtain a much deeper understanding of the issues involved and the reality of what had been agreed, rather than the myths. The vox pops yesterday showed that most people did not have a deep knowledge of the issues relating to the European Constitution. The Parliamentary scrutiny process would change that. Pressed as to whether the remaining twenty-four EU members states would have to renegotiate the Constitution were any changes to be made by the British Parliament, the PMOS said that any changes to a Treaty which had been agreed by EU member states would obviously have to be renegotiated. That was common sense.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Northern Ireland

Asked about the proposition to fine Sinn Fein if IRA activity did not cease, the PMOS said that Paul Murphy had said that he would withdraw allowances from Sinn Fein and would consider the position regarding salaries, particular in the light of a further IMC report due in the autumn. The IMC report which had been published today was a painfully honest account of the current situation. It underlined the fall in violence and the dramatic drop in the number of murders since the Good Friday Agreement. Unfortunately, it also underlined the continuing level of paramilitary activity on both sides of the community divide that was creating new numbers of victims, in particular through punishment beatings, as well as the incident relating to Bobby Tohill. Asked what would happen next, the PMOS said that rather than focussing on sanctions, people should recognise where responsibility lay and understand that the political process would only be able to move forward if paramilitary activity was brought to an end. That analysis should sound familiar because the Prime Minister had first spoken about it in a speech in Belfast in 2002. Asked why paramilitary groups should start taking any notice of it now when they clearly hadn't for the last eighteen months or so, the PMOS said he would disagree with the suggestion that it hadn't had any effect. Given the reaction to the attempted abduction of Bobby Tohill, it was clear that the consistency of the view about paramilitary activity had grown over that period and that there was a much clearer demand on the paramilitaries to bring their activities to an end. Everyone in Northern Ireland recognised the dangers if they did not. Just because it might take time for a message to get through did not mean that it was not valid.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

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» Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Bob Woodward

Iraq

European Constitution

Archbishop of Canterbury

Iraq

European Constitution

Abu Hamza/Legal Aid

» Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Immigration Stocktake

European Constitution

Northern Ireland

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