Downing Street Says » Prime Minister’s leaving date

Asked if this speech was part of the Prime Minister looking beyond the finishing line and "going out with a bang", the PMOS replied that he thought the journalist was asking in a polite way about today’s Daily Mirror story. The Prime Minister was focussed today on this issue of social exclusion, just as he had been focussed on the issues of criminal justice and public health when he gave his lectures on them. The Prime Minister has also continued his focus on delivering the pension reform, the energy review, and on the issue of the Middle East, which was why we continued to be focussed on that. The PMOS said that the Prime Minister had not seen the memo, nor had the PMOS, nor other senior staff in No10. What the Prime Minister had said to people like him was that what he was interested in was the issues, and addressing those issues. The Prime Minister knew that people would make up their own minds about him and his record, but what he wanted to do was focus on the substances of what the Government had done, and needed to keep doing, not the image.

Put that David Miliband had openly spoken in an interview today about the conventional wisdom of the Prime Minister leaving within 12 months as being reasonable, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had set out his position in the Times. Mr. Miliband had said what he believed the conventional wisdom was, and what it meant. That was his right. We had nothing more to say, and the position in the Times echoed what the Prime Minister had said on many occasions. What David Miliband was reflecting was what he believed was the conventional wisdom, but he also said that he trusted the Prime Minister to do what he said he would.

Put that it was pretty bad for one of the senior Cabinet members to be giving the Prime Minister a deadline, the PMOS replied that he did not interpret what Mr. Miliband had said as meaning that at all. Rather, he was setting out what he believed was the conventional wisdom to be.

Put that the Prime Minister had said that he wanted the party to stop obsessing about his departure, the PMOS replied that he did not interpret either the tone or the content of what Mr. Miliband had said today as obsessive. The PMOS repeated that David Miliband was simply setting out what he believed the conventional wisdom was. If people took the tenor of what Mr. Miliband had said in the whole, he was saying precisely what the Prime Minister said, which was that we should get on and do what the Government was elected to do. That was a fair interpretation of what Mr. Miliband had said overall, and people could only come to that conclusion.

Asked if that meant that Cabinet Ministers had free rein to say what they liked, the PMOS replied that Cabinet Ministers would say what Cabinet Ministers would say. However, the underlying message from what David Milliband had said was that the Government should get on and do what they were elected to do. Therefore, the Prime Minister in this lecture today, on criminal justice, public health, the Middle East, energy, pension reform and education was doing precisely that.

Asked if David Miliband had discussed with the Prime Minister or senior aides the conventional wisdom, the PMOS said that Mr. Miliband had said that he had not discussed the matter the Prime Minister, and it was Mr. Miliband’s decision to go on the Today programme, and no-one else’s.

Asked how many lectures were planned, the PMOS replied the Prime Minister did see there being more. The next one would be on science, and the Prime Minister had ideas for further speeches, but people should wait and see.

Asked if the speeches could be seen as part of a farewell tour, the PMOS said that what the Prime Minister was interested in was substance, not image. The Prime Minister was interested in examining the issues. He knew that people would make up their own mind about him and his record. Therefore, what he wanted to do was get on with addressing the immediate issues, and analysing and developing policy for the issues to come.

Asked if the memo existed, and was it as reported this morning, the PMOS replied that he did not want to mark the Daily Mirror out of ten. It was far better that people took what he had said as an indication of where the Prime Minister’s focus was.

Asked whether the Prime Minister was more interested in the delivery of policy or embedding ideas, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister was interested in analysing the issues and developing answers to them. For example, energy, which was hugely complex, had had a review developed by the Government that had been recognised as a serious piece of work, not only in this country, but elsewhere too. Similarly, pension reform, which was one of the most difficult issues for any government to develop answers to. Likewise, although social exclusion might only affect a small number of people directly, it could indirectly affect entire neighbourhoods. The Prime Minister was interested in developing answers to all those issues. If people looked at criminal justice, which was one of the most fundamental areas for any government to develop, they would see that the Prime Minister was developing his thinking in that. It was about continuing to move Government thinking to meet the challenges that were there.

Asked if the Prime Minister would be giving a lecture on retirement, the PMOS replied that in terms of pension reform, the Prime Minister had been addressing the issue in general, and he would continue to do so.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that his control on his own future would be thrown in jeopardy by the continuous speculation about his leadership and by the fact that he has not given any clarify, the PMOS said that what the Prime Minister wanted to do, and what he was doing today, was to continue to focus on the issues. Others would do what they wanted to do, and that was their right. However, what the Prime Minister would do was to continue to focus on the issues, as he believed that that was what the country wanted. What the Prime Minister was concerned about was continuing to do the job, and the job was thinking about issues such as social exclusion, criminal justice, health, science, etc, but also acting where necessary. The PMOS said they were big, serious issues that deserved serious thought, drive and commitment.

2 Comments »

FOAD Bliar!

The current debate is more about HOW this lying treasonous, war criminal will go.

Consensus on most boards appears to be:
"hope its in handcuffs"
Comment by jk5 — 5 Sep 2006 on 5:07 pm | Link
The last comment is very disrespectful of our Prime Minister who is a man of many principles. If you don’t like them, he has plenty of others.
Comment by Mike — 10 Sep 2006 on 8:02 pm | Link

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» Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Prime Minister’s leaving date

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