Downing Street Says » Big Brother

Asked by the BBC if the Prime Minister would be relaxed if police investigations were taken seriously enough to consider charges of racism against any of the individuals concerned, the PMOS said that the key point for the Government was that they identified yesterday which was that any suggestion that the UK in some way tolerated racism needed to be countered strongly. The one lesson that people could draw from the controversy around this issue was that that was not the case, and this country did not tolerate racism. There were processes by which complaints could be looked at and considered, and that was why OFCOM was involved, and we had to respect the role of OFCOM in other comments.

The PMOS also said that if other people went by other means, that was a matter for them, and was not a matter that the Government should get involved in. The PMOS reiterated that the important thing for the Government was that we sent the message out loud and clear that in no way did we tolerate racism.

Asked if the Prime Minister, or his office, had any view on Channel 4 chiefs refusal to comment on this, the PMOS replied that it was important that people reached their own judgements, and that the proper processes were followed. That was what was OFCOM was there for, and that was the role that they were looking at.

Asked if we could afford to allow this to continue without Channel 4 intervening in some to show that they agreed with what we had said, the PMOS said that everyone had to be aware that this was a serious issue that we had to look at and deal with. That was why we had to emphasise what the clear message from this country was, which was that we would not tolerate racism. As for the judgement as to whether what had happened constituted that or not, that was where other people came in.

Asked if the Prime Minister had now watched the programme, or was he planning to, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had not watched the programme. The supervisory role was not one for the Prime Minister, but rather, it was one for OFCOM. They should be allowed to play that role without us second-guessing what their judgement would be.

Asked if we would like OFCOM to quickly "get on with it", the PMOS replied that it did not help people reach judgements if we gave a running commentary. There were serious issues here, and no doubt, they were being considered.

Asked by BBC24 if the Prime Minister would urge people to vote in a particular way to express their opposition to racism, the PMOS said that the difference between being a Cabinet Minister and being Prime Minister was that Prime Ministers did not get involved in these sorts of contests. The PMOS continued that there was a serious side to the issue, and part of recognising that was to recognise that there were set procedures for dealing with this kind of issue, ie, through OFCOM. If people treated the issue seriously, then they also had to treat the process of complaint seriously as well.

Asked if the Prime Minister had been approached by the Indian Government about the issue, the PMOS said that the British High Commissioner had been in touch with the Indian Government in Delhi to underline the means by which we handled these kinds of complaints. As people knew, the Chancellor was in India, and the Prime Minister, both at PMQs and through the PMOS had also underlined that message to India. The message was that any allegation that the UK in some way tolerated racism was something that could do enormous damage. Therefore, we had to be very clear that that was not the case, and the response that there had been had underlined that. That was not to get into a judgement about the programme, but rather, was simply to underline what was an important message.

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» Thursday, January 18, 2007

Big Brother

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