Downing Street Says

Asked why it was not possible for the Prime Minister to say that he would not rule out an inquiry yesterday, the PMOS said that if people actually looked back to yesterday, for instance, at the way Reuters had reported the suggested the outcome of yesterdays vote. It had said the Prime Minister faced humiliation. That was a headline on a story, which was carried in Iraq, and everywhere else. Therefore in terms of whether we should get into this issue now or later you had to make the judgement about what was actually in the interest of not just the troops, but also the Iraqi Government and the whole project in Iraq. As to what was helpful, that was why it was right for Margaret Beckett and indeed Des Browne to say now was not the time to be discussing these matters. What judgements should be made at a later stage was a matter for that later stage. It was not for now.

Put that the Prime Minister had said after Des Browne’s comments that an inquiry was possible, the PMOS said that was not what the Prime Minister had said. The Prime Minister had actually said the precise terminology in which the Governments motion was put. Asked whether it was convenient for the Prime Minister to hold an inquiry once he had left office, the PMOS said the key consideration in all of this was as he had said yesterday: what was the headline that journalists would produce in Iraq today, tomorrow? Never mind what happened in time to come, what was actually the impact now in Iraq. You had the Iraqi Government; you had our soldiers, and you have those who were fighting with that Iraqi Government and our soldiers. They were looking to see whether we were serious about getting the job done. The key question therefore was what message we sent about whether we were serious. That was in our upper most thinking in relation to this. Asked whether Des Browne cancelled his trip to Washington as it was felt he was needed in London, the PMOS said he thought what the Government had done yesterday was signal its complete seriousness in making sure we sent the right message to Iraq. We had taken all the measures necessary to signal that seriousness.

Asked whether the Government’s motives to this were as much political as the Opposition’s, the PMOS said we were in a situation where we were asking the Iraqi Government to take decisions about the future as Margaret Beckett said in her statement yesterday. The question therefore was, when the Iraqi Government, Iraqi people, our soldiers, those who were fighting us in Iraq look at us, what signal had we given about our seriousness of intent. As the PMOS had yesterday, it was not a theoretical point it was a very real point, with very real consequences. This was the perspective from which all members of the Government were coming.

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» Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Iraq

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