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» Monday, October 31, 2005

David Blunkett

Asked what the Prime Minister had meant when he had said earlier that he knew Mr. Blunkett was "looking into" the share allegations, and also, should people infer that Mr. Blunkett would sell the shares today, the PMOS said that Mr. Blunkett would be making his position clear about the shares later on today.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (4)

David Blunkett

Asked whom the Prime Minister had consulted on the David Blunkett DNA bioscience breach of Ministerial Code, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) that, as they knew he did not go into the processology of whom the Prime Minister talked to on such matters. David Blunkett had set out how the confusion arose. He had set it right. This was where we were. Asked how he had set it right, the PMOS said that he had consulted his permanent secretary on 15 May and he had also discussed with the relevant people what to do. He had set out in his statement how the confusion had arisen following Lord Mayhew's letter and he had explained why he had acted in the way he had. The matter was being handled by the department, as it should be. Asked what Lord Mayhew said in his letter, the PMOS said that Lord Mayhew had set out in the earlier correspondence that it was a voluntary code and David Blunkett's interpretation of that was what he had explained. Asked then if the Prime Minister felt no obligation to the code and therefore what kind of code was it if it was one without any teeth, the PMOS the Prime Minister's words in the introduction of the Ministerial Code spoke for themselves. The Prime Minister obviously believed that people should abide by the code. People should obviously abide by the code. This event had arisen in a period not only when David Blunkett was not a Minister but also in the period after the prorogation of Parliament as he had explained.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (5)

Trident

Asked whether the Prime Minister feared that any replacement for Trident might counter our commitments under the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty, the PMOS said there was a review going on regarding the issue, and he was not going to get ahead of it.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

G8 Climate Change Conference

Asked what the Prime Minister hoped to accomplish, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had set some of his objectives out in his Observer article yesterday. His goal was a consensus about how we moved beyond Kyoto. How we involved not just the US, but India and China also, in agreeing how to develop sustainable energy supplies. That was the key objective. We made a lot of progress in Gleneagles where we brought in India, China and developing countries. It was about turning that progress from a concept into a reality and about exchanging energy technology.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

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» Monday, October 31, 2005

David Blunkett

David Blunkett

Trident

G8 Climate Change Conference

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