Downing Street Says » 2007

» Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Scottish First Minister

Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to the Scottish First Minister, the PMOS said that he was not aware that the Prime Minister had spoken to any First Minister in the busy period since we had returned from Africa.

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

Security and Counter Terrorism

Asked if there was anything else the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) could say on what had been said by the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Home Secretary regarding detention, the PMOS said that it would be better to leave any comment until Thursday. However the important thing was that the position has always been, for instance on questioning suspects, that we want to have a longer period but there needs to be a consensus. We do what we believe is necessary to support the police and it will be in that general ethos that the proposals to be published on Thursday will be seen.

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

EU Veto on Home Affairs

Asked if the Prime Minister intended to give up the veto on justice, the PMOS said that firstly this was not Europe week, that would be in two weeks time. Secondly, in terms of the overall issue our position has been that we would retain control of our law and order policy and that is what we will do. Asked if the Prime Minister would accept a time limiting op out, the PMOS said that he would not get involved in the detailed discussions two weeks ahead of the EU Summit or hypothetical and speculative territory. The basic principle was that we retain control. Put to the PMOS that the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee thought it should be a matter for hot discussion, the PMOS said he did not think page two of the Daily Telegraph qualified as a matter of hot discussion.

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

Britishness

Asked what the Prime Minister thought about the idea of a Britishness day, the PMOS said that if reporters looked at what the kernel of the Prime Minister's approach to this issue had been in a series of speeches, it was that on the one hand, we should pursue integrating people into the community at large while at the same time recognising diversity. Therefore these are ideas put forward as part of that debate and therefore what the Prime Minister does is welcome the debate. Asked if the Prime Minister saw anything new in the debate, such as every home having a flag outside as in America the PMOS said what was happening was a move from the general principle to specific proposals and what is right and proper is that there should be a debate. Asked if the Prime Minister would be taking part in the debate, the PMOS it was up to the Prime Minister to decide.

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

G8 and Russia

Asked what kind of co-ordination was there for a common response to President Putin and what did that do to the prospects for a bilateral between the Prime Minister and President Putin at the G8, the PMOS said he wanted to make one point. There was one thing that people need to be careful about; obviously President Putin's comments means that there will be a general discussion about this issue at some stage during the summit, but let's be clear, the kernel of the summit remained Africa and Climate Change. That remained the case, so therefore that was the subject where there will be the most discussion. The PMOS added in response to the reporter's question, there was not that much needed in terms of coordination. If you looked at the EU Informal Summit in Lahti, the EU was not shy in putting forward its views to President Putin on that occasion. If you looked at the EU/Russia Summit recently, the same thing happened. It was not a question of people ganging up on Russia, it was people expressing their views and concerns but also a desire to have a genuine, constructive relationship.

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

» Monday, June 4, 2007

DPM

Asked who would be in charge whilst the Prime Minister was abroad later this week, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that the Prime Minister would remain in charge. Asked whose finger would be on the button so to speak, the PMOS replied that it may come as a bit of a surprise to the journalist, but there were very good communications systems these days which meant that the Prime Minister could be just as much in touch in Germany, as he was when he visited other parts of the United Kingdom.

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

Russia

Asked about Putin's comments that we should have known that Russia's Constitution barred extradition, and therefore we were being foolish, the PMOS replied that, firstly, murder was anything but foolish and had to be taken very seriously. The evidence that we had put forward and the Russians were fully aware of was very serious, and therefore it should be responded to in a serious way. We await a formal Russian response.

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

EU Constitution

Asked if there was discussion of the EU Constitution during weekend talks with Chancellor Merkel, the PMOS replied that the main focus was on the G8.

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

Russia/G8

Asked what the Prime Minister's response was to President Putin's words in the Times, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that the new missile defence system that was being put forward by the US was not aimed at Russia, as had been made clear. Rather, it was being aimed at the possibility of rogue states having nuclear weapons. The weapons would not be effective against Russia, given the size of its arsenal, and the position of the defence system in Europe which was too close to Russia, therefore it would be not be effective. The PMOS explained that in terms of the number of missiles that Russia had, it would not be effective on in terms of its positioning. With regards to the overall position with Russia, we wanted to have a construction dialogue with Russia, and we wanted to be able to talk about issues such as Kosovo, Iran and other world global issues in a constructive way. Equally, Europe as a whole, as was seen at the Lahkti conference in October, did have concerns with Russian behaviour, and would not be shy in expressing those concerns. What we wanted was a constructive relationship, but the nature of that relationship was as much up to Russia as it was to us.

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

Climate Change

Asked if we still wanted a carbon emissions reductions target, did we still favour a global carbon market and did we think that this all had to be done ultimately through the UN, the PMOS replied that we thought that President Bush's speech was important because for the first time, President Bush not only said that this was a serious problem that had to be addressed, but that the US wanted to be part of a global framework in which it was addressed. The US had not said that before, and that was significant. President Bush also said that part of that had to be setting a global limit on emissions. Again, that had not been said before. The PMOS said that the question was no longer whether there should be a global framework or a global limit, but rather, the question was how and when people got to that process and got results. Those were questions which did not just involve us and Europe, or indeed the US, but also India and China. In terms of the progress that we wanted to see made, we obviously wanted to see progress as far as possible, but the question was how far could we get at the summit. We had not lowered our ambitions at all, but the question was how far down the road could we get to.

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

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» Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Scottish First Minister

Security and Counter Terrorism

EU Veto on Home Affairs

Britishness

G8 and Russia

» Monday, June 4, 2007

DPM

Russia

EU Constitution

Russia/G8

Climate Change

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