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» Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Prime Minister’s Lecture

Asked if the Prime Minister would have any idea about his successor should do about regulations, as mentioned during his speech this morning when he talked about the PCC, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that if people went onto the next page, the Prime Minister actually said that he was not in a position to determine it one way or the other. What was important was that there was an analysis of a problem that the Prime Minister thought was there. Part of that problem, as he said, was that he did not want to apportion blame, but the real problem was that the technological context had changed. Part of the consequence of that was increased competition between all forms of communication. That resulted in the distortion towards impact, rather than reportage. However, that change in the context also meant that the old distinctions between broadcasting and print were disappearing. The Prime Minister recognised that there would also be different roles in terms of who was free to comment and who was not, but he did believe that in terms of regulation, the old distinctions were increasingly meaningless.

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

Sarkozy Meeting

Asked for further information about a proposed meeting this week between the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and President Sarkozy, the PMOS said that there was nothing further to add. People were still working on diaries, and both events were still in the frame, but not yet tied down.

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

Afghanistan

Put that the Prime Minister had said that he was worried about Afghanistan, and how was the situation there now characterised, and were things going as well as could be expected, the PMOS replied that there was, as there was in Iraq, a real struggle going on. Our troops were doing a very, very good job, and we believed that we were meeting the threat. However, that did not mean that there was not a daily struggle, as there was.

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

Police Inquiry

Asked if the police had asked to question the Prime Minister again, the PMOS replied that he was not aware of any changes.

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

Ford

Asked what was happening with Ford, the PMOS said that we should be wary of jumping ahead of ourselves. In terms of were we talking to the company about any implications of what they were proposing, then yes, we were. Did we believe that both Jaguar and Land Rover could be successful companies in the UK? Yes. In terms of where actually Ford was with regards to a decision being processed, people had to be patient. We would continue to keep ourselves very much in the loop with regards to where discussions were at.

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

2012 Olympics

Asked how the Prime Minister thought the preparations for the 2012 Olympics were going, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that obviously the IOC would reach its own judgements, that was right and proper. But in previous judgements the IOC has recognised that we were substantially further ahead at this stage than comparable cities were at the same stage. So the progress was there. The Prime Minister has always recognised that the cycle of perception began with the euphoria of winning, followed by the realisation that there was quite a lot of work to be done, and then the inevitable accusations that it was all a disaster. This visit was a chance to look at the objective facts, and certainly on the last assessment the objective facts were that London was well ahead of the game.

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

Intelligence

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Gordon Brown that intelligence should be separated from politicians, the PMOS replied that looking at the Butler review, and the consequences of the review, this was a part of that. As an example of what had happened since then, SIS had created a senior post with responsibility for the overall quality of intelligence, and the process by which it is produced. They had also put in place mechanisms to ensure that all highly classified material was seen by at least one DIS officer who could advise them further on redistribution. This was a process of ongoing review, but this was a process that was put in place as a result of the Butler review.

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

Discrimination Law

Asked for more details on the Discrimination Law review, the PMOS replied that it was essentially looking at how we prevent discrimination happening in the first place by making equality law clearer, and consulting on whether there are significant gaps in protection. At the same time recognising what we had done already in terms of preventing harmful discrimination in the workplace, providing new rights to prevent discrimination on grounds of sexuality or religious belief, and supporting working families and carers, as well as setting up the Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

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

BAE

Asked if the Prime Minister still remained opposed to a judicial inquiry into the BAe affair, the PMOS replied that our position had not changed. The assessment was reached on the grounds of national security, at the same time as the Attorney General stated his belief that in his view a prosecution was unlikely. This had not changed.

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

Ford

Asked if the Prime Minister had any reaction to Ford selling off Jaguar and Land Rover, and were there any contingency plans for job losses, the PMOS replied that obviously we were in touch with the company. We still believed that Land Rover and Jaguar were highly successful companies and would have a highly successful future.

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

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» Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Prime Minister’s Lecture

Sarkozy Meeting

Afghanistan

Police Inquiry

Ford

2012 Olympics

Intelligence

Discrimination Law

BAE

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