Downing Street Says » 2007

» Thursday, March 22, 2007

UK/EU Commissioner

The Leader was asked about the comments earlier of the UK Commissioner Peter Mandelson. He said he had read them, but he was not quite sure what had prompted it. All Commissioners served for five years. It was put to the Leader that some served for a second term, and suggested that Mr Mandelson was likely to get a peerage. Mr Straw said he knew absolutely nothing about the latter. He had never seen a piece of paper, he had never had any information about a piece of paper, never had a conversation or ear-wigged a conversation to that effect.

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

Sudan and Zimbabwe

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the Prime Minister had written to Chancellor Merkel, in her role as President of the EU and copied it to other EU members. The PMOS went on to say that the gist of the letter was that enough was enough, President Bashir of Sudan, was clearly not complying with the agreement that had been reached earlier this year and therefore the Prime Minister believed that it was time for new, tough UN resolution which would mean targeted sanctions aimed at the top members of the Sudanese Government and those supporting them. The reason the Prime Minister believed this was because the hybrid force Sudan has been dragging its feet on, the violence is continuing. Clearly President Bashir is not complying with the accord.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Europe

Asked as Czech deputy Prime Minister had raised concerns that the Declaration due to be published in Berlin this weekend, had been drawn up by the Germans in secret and that they had concerns about it and did the UK have similar concerns, the PMOS said no, we fully believed that there was a general discussion at the Brussels Summit recently about the broad principles underlying the Declaration and we believe that all processes had been followed.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Lebanon and Israel

Asked how serious a schism there was considering what John Bolton had said on Radio 4 thing morning regarding the US allowing the Israelis to bomb Lebanon until Hizbollah had been removed but yet that was contradicted by a foreign Minister saying that that was not the US position, the PMOS said that the position on Lebanon was exactly as we expressed it at the time. What we had wanted was a cease fire on all sides but it had to be a cease fire on all sides. It had to also resulted in Hizbollah abiding by the will of the UN, which was not for a militarised zone. Asked if it was not the case that one side of this, the Americans, had played fast and loose with the special relationship, the PMOS said that he would not get involved in commentating on the comments of an ex-member of the US administration. What the PMOS would do was reiterate what was said at the time, that it only made sense to call for a cease fire on all sides, not one side, as that would not work.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Northern Ireland

Asked for an update on where things were with the 26th March deadline, the PMOS said yesterday's meeting with the DUP was important because no one now was under any illusion whatsoever that Monday was "it". That was the basis on which the election was called and that was the basis on which people voted and all the evidence showed that people fully understood that.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Budget

Asked if the Prime Minister knew in advance that the Chancellor would be cutting income tax by 2 pence, the PMOS said that he did not give running commentaries on talks but said he would put it this way, the Prime Minister certainly knew before he sat down on the bench in the House of Commons. There was a full discussion at the Budget Cabinet yesterday morning and the Prime Minister and the Chancellor had their regular and frequent meetings before that.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Cabinet

Asked what was discussed at Cabinet this morning, the PMOS said there was an update from Peter Hain on Northern Ireland, plus Alan Johnson set out his Green Paper and the reasons behind it. Asked if there was any discussion on the Budget, the PMOS said no, just congratulations for the Chancellor but nothing else.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

» Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Northern Ireland

Asked about the Northern Ireland package that the Chancellor had mentioned in his Budget statement, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that the Chancellor would be meeting the parties in the round tomorrow at 10:30, and it was right that they should be the ones to hear the detail first. Asked where the meeting would take place, the PMOS replied that the meeting would be taking place in London.

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

Chancellor

Asked if senior civil servants led by Sir Gus O'Donnell had been discussing the Chancellor's style of leadership when he becomes Prime Minister, the PMOS replied that all he could say was that anything being done would be entirely proper constitutionally, and at the minute they were focused on serving the present Prime Minister.

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

Select Committee Witnesses

Asked if the Prime Minister had a view on the serious suggestion that witnesses in front of Select Committees should take an oath to tell the truth, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister's view was that everyone in front of a Select Committee should tell the truth.

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

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.

The unofficial site which lets you comment on the UK Prime Minister's official briefings. About us...

» Thursday, March 22, 2007

UK/EU Commissioner

Sudan and Zimbabwe

Europe

Lebanon and Israel

Northern Ireland

Budget

Cabinet

» Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Northern Ireland

Chancellor

Select Committee Witnesses

Search

Supported by

Recent Briefings

Archives

Links

Syndicate (RSS/XML)

Credits

Enquiries