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» Monday, December 18, 2006

Police Inquiry

Put to the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) that last Thursday, the PMOS had said that the Prime Minister had told the police that the people nominated for peerages were done so for party service, but it now seemed that the nomination papers contradicted that, by saying that they were nominated for public services, including city academy work, the PMOS replied that there was no contradiction. They were nominated as working party peers, and every other party leader nominated people as such. In other words, to act in the Lords for the party. At the same time, these were people who had an interest in various issues, and those were listed in their application. There was no contradiction between having an interest in other matters, whilst also expressing a willingness to act as a working peer.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Middle East

Asked for further information about the initiative that the Prime Minister was looking into with other world leaders, and also, about the announcement the US had made about giving money to President Abbas, which they had been quite blatant about, and would we be equally blatant, the PMOS said that "blatant" was a loaded way of describing what was a much more sophisticated analysis by the Prime Minister. The PMOS said that we had, and would continue, to support Palestine with £30 million which at the moment, we channelled that money through a mechanism, because of our concern about how the money would be spent if it went through the Palestinian government, as we were worried that it might be misspent by Hamas. However, what we recognised was that it would be better if we gave money whilst working with the Palestinians. Therefore, if it was possible to look again and see if there were ways in which the two objectives could be met. In other words, that money could be given, and it was not the amount of money that was the issue, but rather, the manner in which it was spent in order that it was guaranteed to go into things that would help Palestinians, for example, hospitals and education. The PMOS said that it was precisely because it was an international mechanism that we had to talk to our international partners about whether they agreed that there might be a different way of doing this. That was what we would do. The issue was precisely the one identified by the Prime Minister, which wasn't us excluding people, but rather, people who were excluding themselves by failing to recognise the reality. That reality was as President Abbas had put it, Israel and Palestine needed each other if there was to be a solution to this problem.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (3)

Sergeant Roberts Inquiry

Asked if there was any comment regarding Sergeant Roberts, the PMOS referred journalists to the Ministry of Defence

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

BAe

In answer to the question of whether the Prime Minister still completely stood by his decision regarding the BAe Serious Fraud Office Investigation and to what extent would he be willing to defend it, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister stood by his position, and people should look at what the Attorney General had said about the likelihood of a successful prosecution.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

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» Monday, December 18, 2006

Police Inquiry

Middle East

Sergeant Roberts Inquiry

BAe

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