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» Friday, April 28, 2006

Deputy Prime Minister

Asked for any developments on whether Sir John Bourn would be making an inquiry into whether the Deputy Prime Minister might have breached the Ministerial Code, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that as he had said all week he was not going to speak for other departments and their responsibilities. Asked if it was true to say that Sir John Bourne would only investigate something if he was invited to by the Prime Minister or by a permanent secretary and not in any other circumstance, the PMOS said he didn't want to get involved in a hypothetical or process discussion on this. Sir John Bourn had set out his role when he had been appointed. People should speak to the Cabinet Office for any detail on that.

Briefing took place at 8:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Foreign Prisioners-Home Secretary

Asked if the Prime Minister still had full confidence in the Home Secretary, the PMOS said yes. The PMOS said that it might be useful, given some of the reports this morning, to point out that there were actually four agencies involved in this process, not just one. So reports relying on just one source were to some extent misleading. The Four agencies were IND, the Police, Probation and the Prison service and, in many cases, it was the Probation service which took the lead. This was an obvious example of where problems arose when people took information in a drip feed fashion rather than waiting for the full picture. The Home Secretary would make a comprehensive statement this afternoon about some of the most serious cases as he had promised Parliament on Wednesday. It was better that we waited for this overview, and as the Home Secretary had said, he would report back on a regular basis on this ongoing process.

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

Nuclear Power

Asked if the Prime Minister had made a decision on building new generation nuclear power stations, the PMOS said that the energy review was continuing. Michael Wicks had been involved in a consultation exercise, which had taken evidence from more than 2000 people and spoken to hundreds of experts in this area. He would report to the Prime Minister in the summer.

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

Peerages

Asked if the Prime Minister had ever considered giving peerages to former Labour MPs if they didn't stand at the next election, the PMOS said that that was a party matter. Put to him that it was a question about working peers, the PMOS said no, it was in connection with a party matter and it was therefore better dealt with by them.

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

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» Friday, April 28, 2006

Deputy Prime Minister

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