Downing Street Says » 2006

» Monday, January 30, 2006

Arcelor

Asked if the Prime Minister had made any representations over the takeover of French steelmaker Arcelor by Laksmi Mittal, the PMOS said he was not aware of any representations.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (2)

Troops stationed in Germany

Asked about the Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) on troops stationed in Germany, the PMOS said it was about what would happen with the number of troops in Germany, which would be rebalanced under the Future Army Restructuring Programme announced in September 2004. The Fourth Armour Brigade would return to Catterick in 2008-09 and would become a mechanised brigade. This was about the transformation envisaged after the Cold War.

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

Reshuffle

Asked if it was still a quiet week, the PMOS said yes and it was likely to continue to be so.

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

» Friday, January 27, 2006

Hamas

Put that Dr. Rice had called on governments to stop giving aid to Palestine until Hamas renounced violence, and what was our position on it, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that the Prime Minister stated the position yesterday when he said that obviously, we did respect the mandate, and that the elections had taken place. Equally, however, as the Prime Minister had said, Hamas now had a choice to make between the political route and the violent route. We had to wait and see what choice Hamas made, but we were absolutely clear in terms of Hamas' need to make that choice.

Briefing took place at 7:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (8)

Sir Ian Blair

Asked if we agreed with what he had said, the PMOS replied that Sir Ian Blair had spoken himself this morning. It was therefore better for him to set out what he was he was trying to say, and also he had made an apology. The PMOS said it was best left there.

Briefing took place at 7:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Education Select Committee report

Asked for the No10 reaction to the Education Select Committee report on the White Paper, the PMOS said that what we recognised and welcomed was that there was support for independent trust schools and for local education authorities having a strategic role. We welcomed what the report had said on that, and we believed that it was a serious piece of work. We also noted that the Chairman had said that it was a good White Paper, with suggestions as to some things that might be "defined". We would study those suggestions, and give our response in due course. Fundamentally, people had to recognise that it did support independent trust schools.

Briefing took place at 7:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (2)

QinetiQ Shares

Asked if the Prime Minister was happy with the value that was obtained for QinetiQ shares in the first sale, the PMOS replied that John Reid had set out the position on that this morning. The Government had only sold a minority share, and the taxpayers had benefited from an 8 times increase in value, as well as other investors.

Briefing took place at 7:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

» Thursday, January 26, 2006

Bullying

Asked about allegations of bullying at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), the Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) said that John Prescott's Office had responded earlier today, saying that the ODPM did not tolerate bullying or discrimination. A program of bullying awareness training had been put in place for all senior and middle managers to ensure the organisation created a positive climate for all staff and that the right procedures were in place to deal with cases where staff were not treated with dignity or respect. Asked if John Prescott would be taking the training, the PMS said that journalists would have to ask the ODPM.

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

Afghanistan

Asked if there had been a decision on numbers of troops being sent to the area, the PMOS said that a decision had been taken on the operation on Afghanistan, which included numbers.

Briefing took place at 6:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (4)

Palestinian Elections

Asked what the reaction was to the Palestinian elections was, and would we be willing to work with a Hamas government, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that first of all, people should wait for the full election results. In terms of Hamas, the Prime Minister had set out a position very clearly earlier this week in his press conference where he said that whilst we recognised electoral mandates, equally people had to be clear that we could only do business with those who renounced terrorism. That was the key distinction: did people support terrorism, or did they not?

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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» Monday, January 30, 2006

Arcelor

Troops stationed in Germany

Reshuffle

» Friday, January 27, 2006

Hamas

Sir Ian Blair

Education Select Committee report

QinetiQ Shares

» Thursday, January 26, 2006

Bullying

Afghanistan

Palestinian Elections

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