Downing Street Says » 2007 » May

» Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Prime Minister

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) began the briefing by clarifying events tomorrow. There would be a Cabinet tomorrow morning at 09:00, although this may not be as long as usual. The Prime Minister would then be going "elsewhere" to make an announcement, and that would be all that would happen. There would be nothing said in Downing Street and as far as we were aware there would be no other statements or interviews anywhere else.

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

Department of Justice

Asked if the Government was happy with Lord Falconer's comments that prisoners who breached their conditions of licence should only face a maximum of 28 days, the PMOS replied that he had not seen the comments and would need to see them in context before he replied.

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

Casinos

Asked if the Prime Minister's comments earlier today implied that Blackpool could now get a casino, and would this need a change in legislation, the PMOS replied that there was a review process going on where Ministers were considering how to proceed. But while this was going on, Tessa Jowell had given a commitment to Parliament not to bring forward any further super casinos in light of this Parliament, and that would not change. But we could consider what might happen in the future.

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

Prime Minister

Asked if the Prime Minister would have an audience with The Queen today, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that he would not have one today.

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

Nicolas Sarkozy/Europe

Asked how the Prime Minister regarded Nicolas Sarkozy, and was he someone the Prime Minister thought he could do business with, the PMOS said that as people knew, the Prime Minister had met Mr. Sarzoky many times and had expressed his views on him. In terms of getting on with the business, Europe did face major decisions, and the Prime Minister believed that he could work with other leaders in Europe, for example, the German Presidency and Chancellor Merkel to achieve that.

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

John Reid

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that it would be a loss to Government if John Reid stepped down, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had set out his views of Dr. Reid very clearly in his letter.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments Off on John Reid

Missing Child

Asked if the Prime Minister was satisfied with the Portuguese authorities about their handling of the missing child, the PMOS said that these were very difficult days for the family, and we fully understood and appreciated that. Equally, it was difficult times for those who were trying to lead an investigation, and we were helping in whatever way we could. We had a certain level of expertise which had been made available and taken advantage of by the Portuguese authorities. In terms of the operational detail, that was a matter for the Portuguese, just as it would be for the police here, and the PMOS said that he did not want to get involved in commenting on that. There was, however, a very deep understanding of the difficult time this must be for all involved.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | 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.