» Monday, March 6, 2006Tessa Jowell
Asked why the Prime Minister was not at DCMS questions, the PMOS said, as we had already explained, the Prime Minister was holding a seminar on trust school sponsors. Asked if the Prime Minister had any reaction to Sir Philip Mawer’s comments that Tessa Jowell did not need to make any changes to her register of interests, the PMOS said, as he had last week, we believed that Tessa Jowell had been scrupulous in trying to ensure that she maintained the ministerial code and met the standards set by the standards commissioner. Therefore we were not surprised by Sir Philip Mawer’s comments as were reported. Asked if any other ministers had come forward with any amendments to their register of interests, the PMOS answered that there were none that he was aware of. Asked if there was any reaction or comment on briefings that suggested Tessa Jowell had not read the mortgage document, the PMOS said he was not going to give a running commentary on allegations. The key question was had these matter been dealt with and the answer was yes. Asked if anyone had got to the bottom of why the Home Office had sent the papers via the embassy and not to the prosecutors, the PMOS said that he was sorry to appear, in English – obtuse, or in Irish – thick about this but what evidence was there that this had been in some way wrong? The Home Office disagreed in a public statement last Tuesday with the suggestion that this was anything other than the normal diplomatic practice. Asked whether the Prime Minister had anything to add to David Cameron’s comments that Prime Ministers should not be judge and jury in such matters, the PMOS said that he would not comment on the political aspect, but his reply was as before when this had been considered when Sir Alistair Graham had made the proposal in the first instance. The Prime Minister’s view had always been that given that both he and ministers were elected it was better that an elected representative made the final decision. It was worth noting that even when independent figures made such decisions, as they had done in regard to the Mayor of London, it was not without controversy. Briefing took place at 6:00 | Search for related news 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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