Downing Street Says » Prime Minister’s regional tour

» Thursday, November 2, 2006

Prime Minister’s regional tour

The Prime Minster’s Spokesman (PMS) told journalists that as part of his lecture tour looking at science, the Prime Minister this afternoon would visit a R&D company in Oxford, where he would see a bus that had been converted to run on vegetable oil. The Prime Minister would also visit the home of a new synchrotron which were a series of groundbreaking "super microscopes" that investigated very small matter, for the non-scientists in the room.

The PMS said that the Prime Minister’s lecture tomorrow would highlight the crucial role that science played in our economy. He would talk about the continual need to stand up for science, as it was key, and lessons learnt from the debate on biotech, or animal research, for example. The Prime Minister would also say how important it was to keep making the case for science and not be deflected by its critics, as well as increasing the prestige and public confidence in, and the profile of, science. This was especially important amongst school children – we should encourage them to aspire to become the scientists of the future in the same way that many aspired to become sportsmen or journalists, for example.

Asked if the Prime Minister would discuss climate change in his lecture, the PMS said that it would be almost impossible to look at science without touching some way on climate change.

Asked if the Prime Minister would touch on the fact that a number of universities were closing their science departments, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister would talk about the importance of encouraging children and teachers to take up science and to look at making than an aspirational occupation. As the Prime Minister had said in his New Scientist interview, we were looking to increase the link between science and business, and the emphasis on science through projects such as the Science Learning Centre at York.

Put that Margaret Thatcher was a scientist, and were there any scientists in Cabinet, the Leader of House replied that Margaret Beckett was a scientist.

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