Downing Street Says » 2006

» Thursday, September 21, 2006

Intercept Evidence

Asked if the Prime Minister supported the Attorney General's view on intercept evidence, the PMOS said there had been a misunderstanding. We had always been of the view that if it was possible to use intercept evidence in court in a way that it did not put at risk or jeopardize security service personnel and sources then that was something that should be very seriously looked at. The problem however, was in ensuring that it did not put security service sources at risk. Therefore we continued to examine that tension because the Prime Minister was absolutely clear we would not jeopardise the work of our security services.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Police Inquiry

Asked if there had been any contact from the Metropolitan Police yet, the PMOS said he had nothing new to say on the subject. Asked if Lord Levy was still the Prime Minister's Middle East envoy, the PMOS said he remained an advisor to the Prime Minister on the Middle East. The PMOS pointed journalists to the important role that he had played on the recent visit to the region.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Dhi Qar

Asked for a reaction to the forthcoming handover of Dhi Qar province in Iraq, the PMOS said that it showed more process. The democratically elected government of Iraq was taking control of Iraq where it was possible. The people who would decide the pace at which that went was the democratic government of Iraq.

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

Hurricane Gordon

Asked if the Prime Minister had been briefed on hurricane Gordon, the PMOS said the Prime Minister, like all of us, had a keen interest in the weather, though for some reason, he suspected the question was about more than the weather.

Briefing took place at 13:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

» Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Thailand

Asked whether the Thai Prime Minister had been in touch with the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said no. He believed that Prime Minister Thaksin was on a plane that would land in London later today. He also understood that Prime Minister Thaksin had relatives in London and was coming in a private capacity. We were not aware of what his intentions were beyond that. There had, as yet, been no requests for meetings.

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

Memorial Service for Victims of Terror

Asked to comment on demands for compensation for victim's families, the PMOS first said that the memorial service would be to remember thirteen British people who had been killed last year in terrorist attacks in Egypt, Turkey and Qatar. Tessa Jowell had been working with those who had lost loved ones to support them and better see how we could support British people who might be victims of terrorist attacks overseas. We were looking at possible options to help those who were injured or had lost loved ones. Our scheme compensated people who were injured in this country no matter where they were from. Many countries had similar reciprocal agreements. The problem arose where such schemes did not exist in certain countries. We were looking at the options to bridge that gap. It may take some time as it involved working with other countries. In the mean time we had introduced a £1 million charitable fund to provide immediate financial help for those caught up in terrorist attacks elsewhere in the world.

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

Policy Reviews

Asked if there was any more detail on the policy reviews following the Political Cabinet, the PMOS said that the party side of the office would be able to brief on the Political Cabinet. His understanding was that today had been about agreeing in principle the process. There would then be a further discussion as to how that would translate into the actual process at a later Cabinet. It was at that point that it would become part of the government process. Asked whether the policy reviews were new, the PMOS said that the four working groups were new. Today had been a political discussion about the need for such for such a process. Questions about that crossed over to the political side and were not for him to answer.

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

DFID Aid

In response to the suggestion that Paul Wolfowitz had accused Hilary Benn of holding back money because of domestic political leadership reasons, the PMOS said that if journalists looked at the quote it had come from an anonymous source not Paul Wolfowitz. Hilary Benn had last week set out very clearly the reasons why he was taking the steps he had. In response to the suggestion that this highlighted the danger that anything could be viewed in this way now, the PMOS said that we would set out our reasons for decisions and no doubt the press would report those reasons and that would then deal with any confusion that might arise.

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

Police Inquiry

Asked whether the Police had contacted the Prime Minister, the PMOS said there was no change from what he had said yesterday and the day before.

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

Dorneywood

Asked whether a decision had been taken on Dorneywood, the PMOS said that there was no change on that matter either.

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

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» Thursday, September 21, 2006

Intercept Evidence

Police Inquiry

Dhi Qar

Hurricane Gordon

» Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Thailand

Memorial Service for Victims of Terror

Policy Reviews

DFID Aid

Police Inquiry

Dorneywood

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