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» Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Iraq

Asked what the Prime Minister had meant at PMQ's when he talked about provocation if our troops did not withdraw progressively in Iraq, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said the Prime Minister meant the same as what Richard Dannatt had meant. Which was that when you had a situation as we had in Iraq for example with Australian troops where they withdrew from an area, but then went back in again. In that circumstance the Iraqis saw that as a provocation. However, that did not mean you should generalize what you had heard at PMQ's into hinting it meant all out withdrawal. It did not. Since April 2004 we had had a process of Iraqisation. This meant that as and when Iraqi troops were capable of taking on the security role, and when the Iraqi Government shared that judgment, then we would progressively withdraw. But this depended on the conditions on the ground. It did not depend on setting an arbitrary date.

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

Post Offices

Asked if the petition brought into Downing Street recently was the largest ever received, having 4 million names on it, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said that what was important was the number of people who were using post offices. What people should remember was that we had made an unprecedented investment in the post office network of more than £2 billion, including £750 million for the rural network. We recognised that some offices would never be commercially viable, but they played an important social role, but we had to ensure that the network was sustainable.

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

Control Orders

Asked when the Prime Minister learnt about the missing control order people, the PMOS said that he was not immediately aware, but it did not alter the way in which these cases were handled ostensibly by the police since it was the courts, not the government, which had imposed the rules of anonymity. The PMOS reminded journalists that he could not get into discussing individuals cases. The courts, not the government, had imposed anonymity and as such the matter would not have been handled any differently. Put that the fact that they were missing had nothing to do with their identity, the PMOS responded that the suggestion being made was that something could have been done that had not been. This was not the case.

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

Cash for peerages

Asked by the Daily Mail if there had bee any contact from Scotland Yard about cash for peerages, the PMOS said: no.

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

State Funding

Asked about the publication of the Hayden report on funding for political parties, the PMOS said that it was an interim report which contained a series of options and as such we would not respond until the final report had been published.

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

Control Orders

Asked if there was any new thinking on control orders, the PMOS said that this was not where we wanted to be, and we had had to introduce control orders because of the court judgement. The Court of Appeal had forced us to weaken the obligations that the Secretary of State could impose, and we were at the moment currently appealing to the House of Lords to overturn the Court of Appeal's judgement. Therefore, we would see what would happen on that. What people should not be under doubt about, however, was that we wanted strong powers from the beginning. It was a combination of Parliament, and the courts that prevented us from gaining those powers.

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

Police Inquiry

Asked whether the Police had interviewed the Prime Minister, the PMOS said that nothing had changed since this morning when he had been asked first by The Daily Mail and then by the BBC. It was not a total surprise that the next to ask had been The Independent.

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

Baker Report

Asked if the Prime Minister and President Bush had spoken recently about James Baker, the PMOS said that they had not.

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

Military Wards

Put that the MOD appeared mystified yesterday with regards to the Prime Minister's comments about army wards, the PMOS said that he was surprised by that, as Des Browne had already announced it beforehand.

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

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» Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Iraq

Post Offices

Control Orders

Cash for peerages

State Funding

Control Orders

Police Inquiry

Baker Report

Military Wards

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