» Monday, February 19, 2007
Operation SINBAD
Asked if there would be a Prime Ministerial statement now that Operation SINBAD had finished, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that as the Prime Minister had said yesterday, SINBAD had now been completed, and it was being assessed. What we had always said was that at some stage, there would be a statement, and that was still the case. In terms of the timing, people should wait and see.
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)
Operation SINBAD
Asked if there would be a Prime Ministerial statement now that Operation SINBAD had finished, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that as the Prime Minister had said yesterday, SINBAD had now been completed, and it was being assessed. What we had always said was that at some stage, there would be a statement, and that was still the case. In terms of the timing, people should wait and see.
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)
Petitions
Asked how the Prime Minister would respond to the road pricing petition, the PMOS said that what the Prime Minister had indicated was that he fully welcomed this debate, as it was a debate that the UK needed to have about congestion. People had strong opinions regardless of whether there was an e-petition process or not, therefore, what was important was that we addressed those opinions as we attempted to come up with a solution. The PMOS said that if we did not do anything, then congestion would increase, and people had even stronger opinions about that. The Prime Minister would reply to the e-petitioners with an answer on the internet.
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (7)
Gun Crime
Asked for clarification about jailing over 18 year olds for five years, the PMOS explained in terms of the legislation, it was introduced in January 2004 through the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The Act stated that unless there were exceptional circumstances, courts must impose a minimum sentence of three years for 16 to 17 year olds or five years for 18-plus year olds. However, the Court of Appeal judged in the Campbell case that the minimum sentence of five years in prison could not be imposed on 18 to 20 year olds, since to do so it said would conflict with the Powers of Criminal Court Act 2000. We were looking at that judgement, because the Prime Minister and the police's view was that we did need to be able to apply the penalty to those in that bracket. That would be part of the consideration given at the Gun Summit, which the Prime Minister referred to yesterday and which would take place in the next few weeks.
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)
Police Inquiry
Asked what the Prime Minister's response was the Des Smith's assertion he was "hung out to dry", the PMOS replied that as people knew, we had refused to give a running commentary on any aspect of this inquiry, and that remained the case.
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)
Croke Park
Asked for further information about any act of commemoration at Croke Park next weekend, the PMOS replied that clearly, the first match at Croke Park had been special in its own right. The second match, because of the teams involved, had also a significance around it. However, first and foremost, this was a game of rugby, and that was how both the IRFU and the GAA wanted to treat it, and that was entirely how it should be. What was entirely proper was that there should have been discussions about how we should handle it, but a consensus had been reached, and we fully supported that consensus. The PMOS said that he was not going to get into processology about the discussions, but they were normal discussions that took place around any event such as this one, and they were nothing out of the ordinary.
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)
» Monday, February 12, 2007
2018 World Cup
Asked whether there were any reservations in bidding for the 2018 World Cup given that the possible cost to host the 2012 Olympics could rise to £8billion, the PMOS replied that regarding the Olympic bid, we should wait until we had the facts on costs, as discussions were currently being held on this. Secondly, it was important that we put ourselves in a position to competitively bid for the 2018 World Cup and to host future major sporting events. We were keen to support the FA if they decided to bid to host the World Cup.
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)
Road Pricing
Asked if he still thought that e-petitions were a good idea, and what numbers would have to be reached before Government put its hand up and retreated, the PMOS replied that it was always a good idea when there was a lively political debate. We had always recognised that there was a lively debate around transport as it was an issue that directly affected people's lives. Therefore, the livelier the debate, the better. But the debate in itself would not produce a solution. The crucial point about this issue was that doing nothing was not an option. Congestion would get worse and worse if we did nothing. Therefore this was a debate that we needed to have. We had to be clear about the terms of the debate, as it was not about immediately stepping to a national pricing scheme. It was about setting up pilot schemes to find out the facts, and then to learn from these experiences, and then decide where we go. In that process we would not only educate ourselves in Government about how to deal with the issue of congestion, we would also hopefully educate the public as well. We recognised, and Douglas Alexander had recognised this from the start, that we needed to convince people with evidence, not just rhetoric. The way to find out the evidence was to have precisely the pilot schemes that we were having.
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (152)
Merkel Meeting
Asked for some more information about the Prime Minister's meeting with Chancellor Merkel on Tuesday, the PMOS replied that we supported Germany's agenda for the EU Presidency and the G8 and the talks would concentrate on the following areas:
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)
Cannabis Use
Asked if the Prime Minister thought that cannabis use was a bar to becoming Prime Minister, the PMOS replied that the journalist was trying to invite him, not very subtly, into political debate. He may have lost his voice at Croke Park yesterday, but he had not entirely lost his mind.
Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)
Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.
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