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» Thursday, October 5, 2006

Police-Israeli Embassy

Asked if the Prime Minister supported the case of the police officer not policing on moral reasons as opposed to compassionate reasons, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said it was not for Downing Street to intervene, it was a matter for the Metropolitan Police.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Troops treated on the NHS

Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about the treatment of British troops on the NHS, the PMOS said the journalist should speak to the Ministry of Defence who actually published a letter today's Daily Telegraph. The letter pointed out that coverage of the issue in the paper suggested people in the category were all waiting for NHS treatment. That was factually wrong. The people in this category actually were not fit for service on the front line for one reason or another, whether they had broken a leg or suffered a minor injury. In other words, it did not mean they were necessarily waiting for NHS treatment.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Finnish Prime Minister

Asked what was discussed at the meeting with the Finnish Prime Minister, the PMOS said the primary focus was on the Informal EU Summit that the Finnish would be hosting later this month at Lahti. They were going to focus, as we had last year at Hampton Court, on issues such as energy security, which were very important for us. Other issues that had been discussed at today's meeting included Finnish troops in Afghanistan as part of the overall NATO effort there. We thanked them very much for their role. What we had in Afghanistan was a NATO exercise in which thirty-seven countries were involved. It was important to remember that the UK was not the only one in Afghanistan.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Afghanistan

Asked if the Prime Minister was optimistic about NATO's ability to tackle the drug trade in Afghanistan, the PMOS said the journalist seemed to be suggesting that other countries were not involved already. There were thirty-seven different countries, which were involved, in different aspects. It was also important, as we headed towards the fifth anniversary of our involvement in Afghanistan, that we recognised the progress that had been made throughout the region. Our focus was on helping problems at the moment, but if journalists actually looked at Afghanistan as a whole there had been huge progress.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Condi Rice’s visit

Asked if we could confirm the visit of Condi Rice, the PMOS said journalists should talk to the Foreign Office on any meeting with Foreign Secretaries on Iran, as the situation was still fluid.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Middle East

Asked if there would be any new initiatives from the Prime Minister on the Middle East, the PMOS said the Prime Minster had said after his last visit that we would visit the region again in the autumn. This remained very firmly his intention. He remained in a variety of ways in very close touch with all main players. This was an issue that we would return to in the coming weeks.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Guantanomo Bay

Asked what was the Prime Minister's view on the former British residents at Guantanomo Bay, the PMOS said our position on the former British residents had been set out many times. We had raised these issues with the US administration, but they were British residents not British nationals. That was the distinction between other prisoners we had dealt with.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Meeting with Sinn Fein

Asked if there would be any words from the meeting with Sinn Fein at Chequers, the PMOS said journalists should not expect any more words before the meeting at St Andrew's.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Prison overcrowding

Asked what was the Prime Minister's views on prison overcrowding, the PMOS said the Home Office was working alongside the Prison Service to keep the matter under constant review. It would be an operational matter in terms of managing it, and it was better left to people with direct responsibility to make the decision.

Briefing took place at 17:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

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» Thursday, October 5, 2006

Police-Israeli Embassy

Troops treated on the NHS

Finnish Prime Minister

Afghanistan

Condi Rice’s visit

Middle East

Guantanomo Bay

Meeting with Sinn Fein

Prison overcrowding

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