Downing Street Says » 2004

» Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Prime Minister/Interviews

Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister had anything against being interviewed John Humphrys in the light of the Leader of the Opposition's comments on the Today Programme this morning, and whether he would submit to being interviewed by Mr Humphrys in the future, the PMS said that she was unable to rule anything in or out. She pointed out that the Prime Minister had been interviewed by the Today Programme yesterday. Put to her that he had been interviewed by Jim Naughtie in a pre-record the day before (Monday afternoon), the PMS pointed out that that was because the Prime Minister had been due to depart for the G8 Summit in Georgia yesterday morning. She underlined that we were not in the business of ruling out any interview with any particular individual.

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

President Reagan

Asked if the Prime Minister would be attending President Reagan's funeral on Friday, the PMS said yes. Buckingham Palace had also announced today that the Prince of Wales would be attending on behalf of HM Queen.

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

G8

The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) advised journalists that the Prime Minister was in Georgia today to attend the G8 Summit. This morning, he would have a bilateral with President Bush. This would be followed by a discussion by G8 leaders on the Middle East. A number of Middle Eastern leaders were in Georgia this week, including the King of Jordan, the President of Algeria, the President of Yemen and President Karzai of Afghanistan.

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

John Reid/Smoking

Asked if it was Government policy to "allow the working-classes to smoke themselves to death", the PMS said that John Reid had been speaking at a Big Conversation event at which he had made a number of comments. As a Civil Servant, she was unable to comment on political issues. That said, the aim of Big Conversation and other Government events was to encourage debate and discussion about a whole range of issues. For example, consultation exercises were currently taking place on public health and smoking. The whole point of such exercises was to allow people to put forward what were often very different views. Asked if Ministers were allowed to express different views, the PMS repeated that the purpose of such discussions was to have a public debate. Dr Reid's comments had clearly provoked an even greater debate on the issue of smoking. Pressed as to whether Ministers should be allowed to put forward different views to the Prime Minister in the light of the fact that the Prime Minister had said that smoking should be banned in public places, the PMS pointed out that the Prime Minister had not, in fact, said that smoking should be banned in public places. All he had stated was that a public consultation exercise on the issue should be held, at the end of which a policy would emerge. Asked when the consultation was due to be completed, the PMS said that it was due to finish at the end of the summer.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (6)

Postal Ballots

Asked if the Prime Minister had voted by post before departing for the G8 Summit, the PMS said yes. Asked if the Government was concerned about new evidence of voting fraud in the postal ballot pilots, the PMS said that the allegations were being investigated, as you would expect. It went without saying that the Government would be concerned about any illegal activity. If the allegations proved to be true, it could result in criminal proceedings. For example, offences relating to personation carried a penalty of up to two years in prison. We would condemn any attempt to influence the results of elections by fraud or intimidation. In the pilot schemes which had been run in the past, the level of fraud had been no higher than in the more traditional way of voting. We would have to wait until after tomorrow's elections before the latest figures could be compiled.

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

Muslim Schools

Asked for a reaction to today's report urging for more Muslim state schools to be set up, the PMS said that in the Government's view, these issues should be dealt with at a local level so that local circumstances could be taken into account before a decision was made. The Government was not actively involved in a campaign for more faith schools, but continued to support those that already existed. Asked if the Government would provide funds for Muslim schools, the PMS repeated that decisions as to whether faith schools should be opened had to be made at a local level by the School Organisation Committee for that particular area. Asked if the Government agreed with the report's conclusion about the problems encountered by Muslim schoolchildren, the PMS said that the Government was committed to raising standards throughout the school system, regardless of pupils' religious or social background. We wanted schools and teachers to respect the different faiths and customs of their pupils.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (13)

» Tuesday, June 8, 2004

Iraq/Prisoner Mistreatment

The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) advised journalists that Adam Ingram had issued a Written Ministerial Statement this afternoon relating to the number of investigations into allegations of prisoner mistreatment in Iraq. Asked to explain the context of the Written Ministerial Statement, the PMS said that Adam Ingram had announced to the House on 4 May that 33 cases of Iraqi civilian deaths, injuries or alleged mistreatment were being investigated. Those figures had been repeated by the Defence Secretary and by the Prime Minister a few days later. Subsequently, it had been discovered that the actual figure was 61 and that an additional 14 investigations had been initiated since 4 May. This error had occurred because there had been no centralised point in Iraq or the MoD to co-coordinate the allegations being made. That problem had now been recognised and resolved inasmuch as all complaints were now registered centrally by the MoD. As she understood it, any further figures relating to this issue would be reported to the House. Asked if the increase in the figures could be the result of more people coming forward following a greater awareness of the reporting of prisoner mistreatment, the PMS explained that the increase had come about because different parts of the MoD had been investigating different cases without recording them at a central point. Asked to explain the delay in coming forward with the correct figures, the PMS said that the MoD had been doing a lot of work to sort this issue out and to ensure that Parliament was informed of the correct figures as soon as possible. Asked if the Prime Minister would make a Statement to the House to explain how the error had occurred, the PMS pointed out that once the error had come to light, Adam Ingram had taken the first opportunity to issue a Written Ministerial Statement today setting out the position.

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

European Constitution

Asked to clarify what the Prime Minister had said in his interview on the Today Programme this morning in terms of whether the referendum on the European Constitution would be held before or after the next General Election, the PMS said that a date for the referendum had not been set at this stage since the Constitution was still being discussed. Suffice to say that the Prime Minister had said that one would take place. Nor was she able to comment on the date of the next general election since that was a matter for the Prime Minister.

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

President Reagan

Asked if the Prime Minister would be attending President Reagan's funeral on Friday, the PMS said that issues relating to US protocol had yet to be dealt with.

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

President Reagan

Asked if the Prime Minister would be attending President Reagan's funeral on Friday, the Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) said that since there were still issues relating to US protocol which had to be dealt with, she was unable to give definitive answer at this stage.

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

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» Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Prime Minister/Interviews

President Reagan

G8

John Reid/Smoking

Postal Ballots

Muslim Schools

» Tuesday, June 8, 2004

Iraq/Prisoner Mistreatment

European Constitution

President Reagan

President Reagan

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