Downing Street Says » PM/Chancellor

Asked if it was likely that the Chancellor would remain in his post for a further five years in the light of reports today that the Prime Minister had decided to serve a full third term if elected, the PMOS said that the simple message was as follows: stories would come and stories would go. The Prime Minister believed it was his role – and indeed the Government’s role – to get on with the job that the electorate expected them to do. There would always be difficult times in Government and there would always be difficult issues to be faced – whether it was Iraq, Europe or delivering on the domestic agenda. The last few weeks had shown that we were moving forward on Iraq. We were not claiming that the situation on the ground was perfect. However, it was clear that progress was being made. We had also moved forward on Europe. The Government was now involved in gradually publishing its improvement plans for our public services, which today’s CSR would make possible. That showed that the Government was getting on with the job of doing what it had been elected to do – and, in the Prime Minister’s view, that was what people should focus on. Stories would come and they would go. In the meantime, he was getting on with his job.

Asked to characterise the Prime Minister’s relationship with the Chancellor at the current time, the PMOS said that they had obviously worked very closely together on the CSR. They also worked very closely together on other matters, as you would expect, and would continue to do so. They were getting on with their jobs, as was the rest of the Government. Pressed for a description of their relationship, the PMOS referred journalists to the words of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor themselves on this matter. They were on the record for all to see. Asked if the Prime Minister was disappointed that aides and allies on both sides were continuing to show indiscipline by briefing against each other, the PMOS said that he had no intention of adding to any of these stories by passing comment on them. The must important thing was the fact that the Prime Minister and the rest of the Government were getting on with the job they had been elected to do.

Asked what the Prime Minister’s reaction had been to Charles Clarke and John Reid’s assurance that he was beloved by the Government and members of the Cabinet and should therefore stay on, the PMOS said that he had no intention of commenting on private conversations. He pointed out that those Ministers who had been named over the weekend had come out and explained the full context in which these matters had been discussed. That was the important point here. The Prime Minister and the Government were getting on with their jobs, which was precisely what they had been elected to do. Put to him that Cabinet Ministers would not have made a point of talking to the Prime Minister about this issue had they not feared that he was thinking of resigning, the PMOS said that Government was all about facing difficult issues such as Iraq, reaching agreement on Europe and drawing up improvement plans for our public services. That was precisely on what the Prime Minister and the Government had been focussing their attention. Put to him that the Prime Minister had been contemplating facing up to these issues was by walking away from them and that the electorate surely had a right to know what had occurred, the PMOS referred journalists to the comments made over the weekend by the Cabinet Ministers implicated in these stories. Their words spoke for themselves. Asked if he was indicating that the Prime Minister had never thought of resigning, the PMOS replied that he had said all he had to say about this issue. Some stories suggested one thing, other stories suggested another. The Prime Minister was getting on with his job. In the end that was what mattered.

Asked if the Prime Minister believed that Peter Mandelson had been right to suggest that the Chancellor could be his successor or whether Charles Clarke had been right to say that the Chancellor was not the right candidate for the post, the PMOS said that the question was based on one huge hypothetical. The important point was that the Prime Minister was getting on with his job. End of story. Asked if Charles Clarke had been authorised to assert yesterday that the Prime Minister would not be doing his job in twenty years’ time, the PMOS said he thought people should be focussing on what was happening twenty days hence, rather than twenty years. Responding to mock ‘oohs’ of amazement by journalists that he was perhaps signalling that something dramatic was about to happen, the PMOS laughed and told journalists to get on with their jobs, just as the Prime Minister was getting on with his.

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» Monday, July 12, 2004

PM/Chancellor

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