Downing Street Says » 2004

» Monday, May 24, 2004

Lockerbie

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) advised journalists that the Prime Minister was meeting the families of the Lockerbie victims today to brief them on his recent visit to Tripoli and his meeting with Colonel Gaddafi.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Iraq

Asked when an announcement on troop deployments would be made, the PMOS said that an announcement would be made at the appropriate time. A decision would be taken against the strategic background that we were currently seeing being played out, for instance at the UN today, when we were anticipating the draft Security Council Resolution to be tabled. Asked to explain the phrase 'strategic background', the PMOS said that as he had told journalists last week, we were now pursuing a two-track strategy as the pace towards which we were approaching 30 June gathered momentum. Firstly, on security, we wanted to see the stabilisation of the security situation in Iraq, despite the current background of difficulties which, as we had already acknowledged, were likely to get more challenging as we approached 30 June. Secondly, on the political track, a number of developments were being made - the first being the Security Council Resolution, a draft of which we believed would be tabled today at the UN; the second being the work of Lakhdar Brahimi in selecting the Interim Authority. We were clearly going to see progress on both fronts over the coming days and weeks.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Parliamentary Security

Asked if any consideration was being given to moving Prime Minister's Question Time, the PMOS said not as far as he was aware. If he was being asked for a response to last week's events, he would simply say that people should be a little patient and wait for the report from the House authorities. Asked if the Prime Minister's personal protection team would start accompanying him into the Chamber, the PMOS said that these matters were best left to the House to deal with. It was not for him to comment.

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

Interest rates

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about suggestions that interest rates could double, the PMOS said he thought that the most effective rebuttal had come from the building societies themselves, who had said today, "We are not calling for interest rates to double. We don't want them to double and there is no need for them to double". He pointed out that interest rates were, of course, a matter for the Bank of England.

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

» Friday, May 21, 2004

Iraq

Asked if a decision had been made on troop deployments to Iraq in the light of the report in today's Daily Mirror, the Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) said no. The position had not changed. As we had been saying for some time, discussions were continuing with our Coalition allies, but no decisions had been taken at this stage. Nor were we expecting an announcement in the near future. She pointed out that today's Daily Mirror story was a mystery. How could you reverse a decision when a decision had not been taken? Asked when an announcement would be made, the PMS said she didn't have a precise date. Discussions were still ongoing. A number of factors obviously needed to be considered. People were looking at the relevant issues and would make a decision when it was appropriate to do so, obviously taking into account the conditions on the ground. Put to her that the conflicting briefings being given to newspapers would seem to indicate deep confusion and disagreement behind the scenes, the PMS said that those supposedly briefing the media were being quoted as 'unnamed sources'. She couldn't be held accountable for them. As the Prime Minister's Spokesman she could say definitively that no decision about troop deployments had been taken at this stage. Put to her that the contradictory briefings would appear to indicate there was conflict within the decision-making system, the PMS said that there had been no conflicting briefings coming out of the Prime Minister's Office. Challenged that her colleague had suggested on Monday that troops would be deployed and that she appeared to be rowing back from that today, the PMS said that stating that a decision had not been taken at this stage was not an indication that the situation had changed in any way.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (14)

Pakistan/Commonwealth

Asked if the Prime Minister supported Pakistan's bid to rejoin the Commonwealth, the PMS said that a decision would be taken by all the members of the Commonwealth. She said later that the Government believed that Pakistan had fulfilled the conditions set by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to rejoin the Commonwealth, but the decision would be taken by the CMAG.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (8)

» Thursday, May 20, 2004

Senator John Kerry

Asked if the Prime Minister had ever met Senator John Kerry, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he didn't know. He pointed out that the Prime Minister and Mr Kerry had hoped to have a meeting during the Prime Minister's recent visit to Washington, but unfortunately Mr Kerry had been out of town on the day.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Iraq

Asked if the Prime Minister would agree with Robin Cook's suggestion last week that British troops were being placed under more risk as a result of the Prime Minister's reluctance to distance the UK's position on Iraq from that of the US, the PMOS said that as he had told journalists this morning, it was important to understand what it was we were in Iraq to do. We were not there for the sake of either UK or US diplomacy or to score points off each other. We were there to achieve a stable democracy. That meant having an agreed coherent strategy for the way forward. This was not a US strategy or a British strategy. It was a Coalition strategy which went with the grain of Iraqi opinion and reflected their concerns. The question was how best to achieve it. Was it through playing to the gallery, grandstanding or airing differences in public, which would give the Iraqis and our troops on the frontline conflicting messages? Or should it be done by focussing on reaching an agreed policy. In the Prime Minister's firm view, it was the latter course which would best achieve our shared objective - handing over power to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible and allowing them to develop a stable democracy. Asked if he was insinuating that he would not brief on any serious disagreements between the British Government and US Administration were there to be any, the PMOS said that as Sir Jeremy Greenstock had underlined in his Today Programme interview this morning, the US and the British systems were working more closely in Iraq than they had ever done before. Obviously different options would have to be debated from time to time both within and between the two countries' systems. That was a natural part of forming a coherent policy. The question was whether that was best done in the full glare of publicity or privately without the benefit of megaphone diplomacy.

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

Alcohol Abuse

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) advised journalists that the Prime Minister and Hazel Blears would attend an alcohol abuse event this afternoon. Alcohol abuse was an issue to which the Prime Minister attached great importance. As the recent Crime Survey had underlined, binge drinking had now become a major problem. The Survey showed that 44% of victims of crime thought that their assailant was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the attack. Other figures showed that around 70% of weekend night admissions to Casualty were due to alcohol. Binge drinking had now clearly become one of the significant causes of crime. That was why the Prime Minister would be attending today's industry-organised seminar where he would make a speech to discuss the National Alcohol Strategy. He would say, "Millions of people drink alcohol responsibly every day. No one wants to stop that pleasure. But there is a clear and growing problem on our town and city centre streets up and down the country on Friday and Saturday nights. At a time when overall crime is falling, alcohol related violent crime is rising. New powers are there. They need to be used. As a society we must make sure that binge drinking does not become the new British Disease".

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (25)

Iraq

Asked if the Prime Minister continued to believe that it was best to discuss any differences he had with the US in private, the PMOS underlined that we would stay in Iraq because we wanted to see a stable democracy, which we believed would also have a beneficial effect on stability in the region as a whole. This was a goal which was shared by our Coalition partners, including the US. Despite all the difficulties, we would continue to work with them to achieve our objectives. Consequently, the question was what was the best way to do that. Was it by discussing what we should be doing in public by using megaphone diplomacy, shouting from the margins or scoring people's performances from the sidelines, or should we be discussing the way forward together and working out a common strategy. We believed the latter option was the best way to proceed, not least, as the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary had all underlined at Cabinet today, because of the impact any apparent disagreements would have on the troops who were carrying out their jobs side by side on the ground.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (12)

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.

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» Monday, May 24, 2004

Lockerbie

Iraq

Parliamentary Security

Interest rates

» Friday, May 21, 2004

Iraq

Pakistan/Commonwealth

» Thursday, May 20, 2004

Senator John Kerry

Iraq

Alcohol Abuse

Iraq

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