Downing Street Says » 2005

» Wednesday, May 18, 2005

George Galloway

Asked what the Prime Minister thought about allegations against George Galloway, the PMOS said that was a matter for the Senate Committee and Mr Galloway, and if journalists thought he was going to get into the middle of that, they had another thing coming.

Briefing took place at 8:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Women’s Minister

Asked if, given the gender gap in pay, it was an embarrassment to the Government that the Minister for Women would be unpaid, the PMOS said that he had dealt with this matter earlier in the week. As he pointed out then, there had always been unpaid Government ministers because of the cap on the size of Government. What was important was that previously, Jackie Smith had been sharing the responsibilities of Women's Minister with other responsibilities she had. Meg Munn would be able to devote her time solely to being Women's Minister. Furthermore Tessa Jowell would be representing the equality and equal opportunities agenda at the Cabinet table. The agenda was being addressed in a serious way.

Briefing took place at 8:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (5)

» Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Queen’s Speech

Asked when the Europe Bill would come to Parliament the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that we would announce the timetable for Bills as and when appropriate. As usual it would take a few days to have the normal discussions that went on before we could announce. This was the usual precedent. We would not get drawn into guessing games. It was best that the normal discussions took place through the usual channels in the first instance.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Leaks

Asked if there was any leak inquiry into the "extraordinary" number of secret documents leaked to Sunday newspapers during the election campaign that were later found to be genuine, such as the minute of the Crawford Texas meeting and the Attorney General's advice the PMOS said that we took very seriously the leaking of any document and this kind of document in particular. He had not heard any explanation as to why there were so many leaks, but he had no doubt that there would be the proper inquiries made. As to what form they would be that was a matter for the Cabinet Office.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Foreign Secretary

Asked why the Foreign Secretary was in the United States the PMOS said that he had planned to be in the US to meet with Condoleeza Rice and to give a speech. He had planned to do so before the opposition choose tomorrow as the day for the Foreign Affairs debate. As people would know doubt be aware it was the opposition that choose the order of debates and not the Government.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (2)

» Monday, May 16, 2005

Uzbekistan

Asked if Jack Straw would mention Uzbekistan in his speech tomorrow, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that it was up to him. As he had said yesterday, the Government believed that the situation was very serious, that there had been a clear abuse of human rights, a lack of democracy and a lack of openness. Our Ambassador in Tashkent, having seen the Deputy Foreign minister yesterday, was seeing the currently Foreign minister.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Iraq

Asked if 450 deaths since the election of the new Iraqi Government demonstrated progress, the PMOS said what was progress was that we had for the first time in living memory a democratically elected Government in Iraq. Nobody underestimated the terrible price that terrorists were exacting for that progress, but there was progress. What we must do, as the Prime Minister had said, was see it through to the end and make sure we did everything we could to help the democratically elected government of Iraq agree a new constitution, progress to further elections in December and provide the capability so that they could take responsibility for their own security. Clearly those who were killing people wished to stop that progress, but we were as determined as ever to see it through.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Minister for Women

Asked if it was acceptable to have an unpaid minister for women, the PMOS said that there had in the past been various ministers, who, because of the limits on the size of Government have been unpaid. The important thing was that we had a representative at Cabinet level in Tessa Jowell looking after equality issues and a very energetic and capable minister, Meg Munn.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Anti-Social Behaviour

Asked about the Government's plans to tackle anti-social behaviour in the light of Hazel Blears comments, the PMOS said that the important thing, as the Prime Minister had said last week, was to have a national debate on the kind of measures and signals that we sent to those who showed disrespect or broke the law. There were various different aspects and factors related to that. We had dealt with some of these already through the use of ASBOs. Some of them we would be dealing with in future legislation, such as through the ability to close down pubs where there were problems. Others required a debate, such as in education, with head teachers about discipline. Another aspect of it was how to send the strongest possible signals to those who had been convicted that the community as a whole disapproved of their behaviour. It was in that spirit of debate that Hazel Blears made her comments.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (3)

Europe/Rebate

Asked about the UK's rebate from the EU, the PMOS said that the position on the rebate had not changed since he last briefed it before the election campaign. Asked to clarify what that position was, the PMOS said that that the important thing was that we had argued and continued to argue that given the balance of resources and payments that countries made, the UK was justified in its rebate and that remained the position. Asked repeatedly to say it was non-negotiable, the PMOS said that the Government had said that we believe the rebate to be justified and we will argue that case in Europe. Put to him that the Chancellor had said it was non-negotiable given the existing Common Agricultural Policy, the PMOS said that he had nothing to add to the Chancellors words, which he fully endorsed.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | 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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» Wednesday, May 18, 2005

George Galloway

Women’s Minister

» Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Queen’s Speech

Leaks

Foreign Secretary

» Monday, May 16, 2005

Uzbekistan

Iraq

Minister for Women

Anti-Social Behaviour

Europe/Rebate

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