Downing Street Says » 2007

» Friday, April 27, 2007

Transition

Asked what were the Prime Minister's engagements on May 1st, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said if journalists were referring to this morning's papers then he had one word, wrong. Asked whether the PMOS was referring to stories reporting the Prime Minister would make an announcement about his future in advance of the local elections, the PMOS said that was correct.

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

EU Treaty

Asked whether the PMOS could update journalists on progress on the EU Treaty, the PMOS said the reality was that we were at the preliminary stages of discussions. The other reality was that both with the Dutch Prime Minister and here in Poland we believed that we detected support for the Prime Minister's view that there should be an amending Treaty, rather than a replacement Treaty. We also had to recognise there would be a range of views across Europe, but the Prime Minister had used the opportunity on Tuesday to put his views to Angela Merkel who was in the chair at the moment. She as EU President would have to listen to the voices across Europe and try to reach a consensus, but we believed by engaging with other countries there was at least some understanding and support for the approach we were advocating.

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

BAE Systems

Asked whether the Prime Minister was embarrassed by the US formally complaining about the decision to drop the BAE inquiry, the PMOS said all he could say was we did not normally get into discussing diplomatic exchanges.

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

» Thursday, April 26, 2007

Peter Clarke

Asked if a leak was a criminal offence shouldn't an investigation be instigated, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that if people had evidence they should give it to the police. Put to the PMOS that Peter Clarke thought there was evidence, the PMOS said that Peter Clarke had said, on the record that he did not know who the leak had come from.

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

World Bank

Asked if there was any change in the Government's position regarding the World Bank, the PMOS said it was a matter for the World Bank and therefore he would not comment. Put to the PMOS that there were representatives from the UK, the PMOS said it was still a matter for the World Bank.

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

Prince Harry

Asked if there was any comment on the furore surrounding Prince Harry, the PMOS said it was a matter for the armed forces.

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

Forthcoming Business

Leader of the Commons, Jack Straw MP, announced that business for next week would be: Monday, April 30 - consideration in committee of the Finance Bill (Stephen Timms, John Healey and Ed Balls, for the Government); Tuesday, May 1 - conclusion in committee of the Finance Bill (Stephen Timms, John Healey and Ed Balls); Wednesday, May 2 - motion to approve a European document relating to the Protection of Critical Infrastructure (Tony McNulty), followed by consideration of Lords amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill (Jim Murphy and Anne McGuire), followed by a debate on Sri Lanka on a motion for the adjournment of the House (Kim Howells); Thursday, May 3 - a debate on "Policing in London" on a motion for the adjournment of the House (Tony McNulty); Friday, May 4 - not sitting.

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

Private Members Bill / Freedom of Information Act

The Leader, asked if he had a view of the Bill before MPs again tomorrow, said that the Government's approach - to treat it as a House matter - was entirely appropriate. He recalled that, when the original White Paper had been published on Freedom of Information, there was an exemption for Parliament, as was the case in many other jurisdictions for special reasons connected with parliamentary privilege and such matters - not because of a desire to keep information covered up.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Leaks

In response to a question, Mr Straw repeated his view, expressed during Business Questions earlier, that there should be a police investigation rather than an internal Whitehall inquiry if there was any evidence for the allegations. The Leader said that prime facie evidence, not just assertion, was required. If there was such evidence, it should be put to the police because interfering in a criminal investigation was serious. He said that distinguished the present issue from other cases being quoted at length of leak inquiries, where the matter was a breach of internal security.

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

Prince Harry

Asked if he had any views about whether he should serve in Iraq, the Leader said that was a matter entirely for the Army - not for Ministers.

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...

» Friday, April 27, 2007

Transition

EU Treaty

BAE Systems

» Thursday, April 26, 2007

Peter Clarke

World Bank

Prince Harry

Forthcoming Business

Private Members Bill / Freedom of Information Act

Leaks

Prince Harry

Search

Supported by

Recent Briefings

Archives

Links

Syndicate (RSS/XML)

Credits

Enquiries