Downing Street Says » 2004

» Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Iraq

Asked if it was Government policy that UK re-enforcements should remain confined to British-controlled areas in Iraq, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the details of any announcement regarding deployments would be made at the appropriate time. No decision had been taken at this stage. As we had been underlining over the last few days, the principle which would govern such an announcement was how it would contribute to the strategy of the Iraqi-isation of the security structures which we had set out. Asked by the Daily Express if the Prime Minister believed that Donald Rumsfeld should resign if that would help calm the situation on the ground in Iraq, the PMOS said he was surprised that the Daily Express, which defended Britain's national identity so strongly, was inviting him to interfere in the internal affairs of another Government. Surely the paper would disapprove of anything so outrageous. Put to him that the US was a Coalition partner, the PMOS said the fact still remained that it was an internal matter for another Administration. He doubted that the Daily Express would approve of American opinions being expressed about members of the British Government. Put to him that the Prime Minister consistently spoke up for President Bush, the PMOS said that the President was someone with whom the Prime Minister had done business in terms of Iraq and would continue to do so. It was for the President to decide who he wanted to include in his Administration.

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

European Constitution

Asked if the Prime Minister believed it was important to agree the EU Constitution by June, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister's view had not changed since first expressing it at the Brussels Council last December. As he had said at the time, he would like to see an EU Constitution because he believed that it was in this country's interest for Europe to move forward under arrangements which made an EU at twenty-five operate more effectively. That said, he also believed that a Constitution could only move forward if it respected and reflected our national interests. We were currently in a negotiation and people should let it continue. As he had said this morning, we acknowledged that negotiations tended to go through different phases. That was the whole point of them. Pressed as to whether the Prime Minister would like to see the negotiations concluded by the end of June, the PMOS said that we had indicated to the Irish Presidency that we wanted to agree an EU Constitution as soon as possible. However, as we had underlined at the time, we would only agree to it if it respected our position.

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

NHS Modernisation Board

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) advised journalists that the Prime Minister and John Reid had hosted a breakfast for the NHS Modernisation Board this morning at which the Board had presented their annual report. The Prime Minister had said that real change was taking place within the NHS which showed, as the Modernisation Board had underlined, significant and stable improvement. Both had stressed, however, that there was still much more to do. The gap between the treatment people received and their overall perception of the NHS was clearly significant. This was backed up by the Chairman of the Council of the British Medical Association, James Johnson, who had said, "There seems to be a mismatch between people's experiences. They are surprised, while the general public's view is that not much has changed. Perception of the NHS is changing among people who have regular contact with it".

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

Iraq

Asked if the deployment of additional British troops should be seen as part of an exit strategy from Iraq, the PMOS said that he had dealt with this issue at length yesterday, but he was happy to do so again. He pointed out that no decision had yet been made regarding further deployments. Moreover, as the Prime Minister had said yesterday, we had a clear strategy for our objectives in Iraq - namely, the creation of a stable democracy with the means to defend itself. That meant achieving a real transfer of authority on 1 July, leading to elections in January, but also creating the security apparatus which, in time, would be able to take full responsibility for Iraq's security. It was within that context that any decision about troops would be made. It was a strategy which would allow us to achieve our objective: to give Iraqis both the authority and control over their own future.

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

» Monday, May 17, 2004

NHS Modernisation Board

The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) advised journalists that the Prime Minister and John Reid would be hosting a breakfast in Downing Street tomorrow for the NHS Modernisation Board who would be publishing their annual report. It was an important report as it represented the views of professionals and patient groups about where the NHS was going. It followed the Crisp Report, which had shown good progress on waiting times and staff levels, acknowledging, however, that there was still a lot more to do.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (8)

Turkey

The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) advised journalists that the Prime Minister was visiting Turkey today for the first time in what would become a series of annual bilateral summits. He would be meeting the Turkish President and Prime Minister.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (4)

Iraq

The PMS advised journalists that the Prime Minister had added his condemnation to that voiced by Iraq's leaders and citizens over this morning's explosion in Baghdad in which several Iraqis had been killed, including Izzedim Salim of the Iraq Governing Council (IGC). The Prime Minister's thoughts were with the families and friends of the victims. Mr Salim had been working with his colleagues for the last year to give Iraq a future of freedom, democracy and security, all of which were goals were rejected by the terrorists. But we would continue to help the Iraqis attain what they had been denied for decades. The PMS also drew journalists' attention to words from the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zubari, today who had said regarding the attack, "This shows our enemies are still there and will do anything to intimidate Iraqis to derail the political process. This will strengthen our resolve to continue the political process....This will not derail the process".

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

Prime Minister

Asked the Prime Minister's take on the continuing speculation about his position, the PMS said that she had absolutely no intention of participating in all the froth about this issue. The Prime Minister and the Government were focussing on the things which really mattered to the people of this country. As people were no doubt aware for example, both unemployment and crime figures were falling; the recent Crisp report had shown that NHS waiting lists were being cut; education and childcare services had also been improving, as Margaret Hodge's announcement today demonstrated. Clearly the investment the Government was putting into our public services, allied to reform, was making a difference. Asked if she would agree that this message was being drowned out by the issue of Iraq, the PMS said she would not deny the fact that there were some real challenges in Iraq. Needless to say, we would continue to face up to them, as we had underlined once again this morning.

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

» Friday, May 14, 2004

Oil Prices

Asked to confirm the report in today's Times suggesting that troops could be used to protect fuel supplies in the event of protests against oil prices, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that contingency plans had been drawn up for all sorts of things. It wasn't our policy to brief on them unless we had to use them. At the moment, the possibility of future fuel protests was purely hypothetical. Put to him that the publication today of contingency plans to evacuate London in the event of a disaster showed that we did in fact brief on contingency plans, the PMOS congratulated journalists on their observation skills but said that said he was simply making the point that it was sensible not to talk about contingency plans in certain areas because it could lead to unhelpful speculation.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (5)

Prime Minister

Asked if he would agree that the Prime Minister was creating his own 'spin-cycle' following his interview with the Independent today in which he had said he wouldn't stand down and his indication to Guardian journalists recently that he would stand down if he became an electoral liability, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had answered questions about this matter in his constituency this morning. What he had said was what he believed - that the speculation was complete froth. Local people had told him that they wanted to see him getting on with the job. That was precisely what he was doing.

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

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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» Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Iraq

European Constitution

NHS Modernisation Board

Iraq

» Monday, May 17, 2004

NHS Modernisation Board

Turkey

Iraq

Prime Minister

» Friday, May 14, 2004

Oil Prices

Prime Minister

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