Downing Street Says » 2004

» Friday, May 14, 2004

Iraq

Asked if the Prime Minister believed that there should be changes in personnel at the Daily Mirror, the PMOS said that that was entirely a matter for the newspaper concerned and its proprietors. Asked if the issue would be referred to the PCC, the PMOS said that he was not aware of any such proposal.

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

Pensions

Asked if the Prime Minister was happy with the amendments to the Pensions Bill being put forward today, the PMOS said that this was the result of a lot of hard work carried out by DWP, the Treasury and Downing Street. It had led to a package which would go some way towards addressing the issues facing people who had lost their pensions when their firms had gone bankrupt. Today's announcement was clearly very welcome news.

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

» Thursday, May 13, 2004

Pensions

Asked if an announcement on pensions would be made today, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that lots of discussions and good work on this issue were taking place and progress was being made. We hoped to be in a position to make an announcement within the next few days. Asked if the Prime Minister's meeting with the Chancellor yesterday would have focussed on this issue, the PMOS said that it wasn't our policy to brief on meetings between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. That said, Downing Street, the Treasury and DWP had all been involved in discussions about the pensions issue, as you would expect.

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

European Constitution

Asked to comment on a reported proposal by France and Germany suggesting that only the support of twenty out of twenty five EU member states was needed to go ahead with the European Constitution, the PMOS said that he never commented on hypothetical scenarios. That said, it was not an idea that we would look upon with any particular favour.

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

Iraq

Asked if Adam Ingram was expected to make a substantive announcement this afternoon on the outcome of the investigation into the Mirror photos, the PMOS said that Mr Ingram would make the position as clear as he could within the constraints imposed by the ongoing investigation and the legal position. Both of those requirements obviously took precedence over everything else. Asked for a reaction to the suggestion that we had known the results of the investigation for several days, the PMOS said that the idea that we were deliberately holding anything back was false. He repeated that it was necessary for us to work within the constraints imposed by the ongoing investigation and the legal position. Asked if he was suggesting that the investigation into the Mirror pictures was still ongoing, the PMOS said that Adam Ingram would update the Commons this afternoon on the latest position. He was not going to pre-empt what he might say. Asked to clarify the constraints under which Mr Ingram was operating, the PMOS said that Mr Ingram would set out the position in more detail later today. As he understood it, the constraints related to the possibility of criminal charges, as was usual in investigations of this sort.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (10)

» Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Iraq

Asked for further details about discussions that were taking place regarding the possibility of Coalition troops leaving Iraq, as confirmed by the Prime Minister during PMQs today, the PMOS said that this was nothing new. We had always made clear that we wanted to hand over control and authority to the Iraqi people and leave as soon as possible. However, as we had also made clear, we would stay until the job of creating a new democracy in Iraq had been completed and a government was in place, as well as a system guaranteeing security for all. Asked why he was being so vague when the Prime Minister had seemed much more definite in PMQs, the PMOS said the Prime Minister had simply been making the point that he was discussing with our allies how we could speed up the process and follow through on the process of 'Iraqi-isation'. We would be able to leave once Iraqis had been trained and were able to take charge of their own security. Asked if there was a target date for a pullout towards which we were working, the PMOS said that there was a deadline of January 2005 for elections. We would withdraw once the Iraqi authorities and the Coalition had agreed that it was safe to do so. Setting an arbitrary deadline would be pointless because a pullout would depend on circumstances at the time. The process of democratisation, the transfer of authority and the Iraqi-isation of the security services would all help speed up the process of ultimate withdrawal. Asked if he was indicating that there was no possibility of withdrawal under an interim authority, the PMOS said that no one was envisaging such a scenario. However, it was clear that the process of Iraqi-isation would continue to pick up speed and eventually lead to withdrawal.

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

Europe

Questioned about Jack Straw's speech on EU enlargement and reform this evening and whether he was indicating that we would be taking on board the Opposition's proposals to reduce bureaucracy or if a Gershon-type review would take place, the PMOS pointed out that the Prime Minister had spoken often about the need for reform in Europe. He said he was therefore astonished that anyone should find it surprising that the Foreign Secretary was speaking about the same subject.

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

Olympics

Asked if the Prime Minister was planning to attend the Olympic Games in Athens this summer in the light of the Daily Telegraph story this morning, the PMOS said that we never commented on the Prime Minister's diary or travel arrangements for obvious security reasons.

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

Employment

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) drew journalists' attention to the latest employment figures which had been published this morning. They showed that there were more people in work today than ever before - up 300,000 in the last year alone. The Prime Minister had said, "The figures published today show that there are 1.95m more people in work than seven years ago. That means one more person in work every two minutes since this Government has been in power. But we are not complacent. The Government will continue to strengthen the New Deal as we move towards full employment". The PMOS added that the Chancellor had made a speech to the CBI this morning in which he had outlined a series of measures designed to strengthen the New Deal.

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

Syria

Asked the Prime Minister's reaction to the sanctions which the US had imposed on Syria, the PMOS said that we expected Syria to take seriously our concerns about WMD and their attitude towards terrorism and human rights. In particular, we expected Syria to take a constructive approach to the situation in Iraq and work with us to restore stability and aid Iraq reconstruction. In our policy towards Syria, we clearly had similar objectives and concerns to the US. However, we were pursuing these through a policy of critical and constructive engagement. We believed that this allowed us to encourage and support reform, while talking frankly and robustly about issues of concern. How the US addressed its relations with Syria was entirely a matter for the US. Asked if the UK was also considering imposing sanctions on Syria, the PMOS said that sanctions were a matter for the EU as a whole, not for individual Governments.

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

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» Friday, May 14, 2004

Iraq

Pensions

» Thursday, May 13, 2004

Pensions

European Constitution

Iraq

» Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Iraq

Europe

Olympics

Employment

Syria

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