Downing Street Says

Asked what the Prime Minister’s view was on Cabinet Ministers’ past, and did he feel that he needed to know, the PMS said that the Home Secretary had dealt with this in her interview this morning. As Jacqui Smith had said, and this was something that the Prime Minister would concur with, that it was something that she regretted, but that it was over 25 years ago. She said that she had a responsibility as Home Secretary, just as other Ministers did, to ensure that we now put in place the laws, support and information to ensure that we could bring cannabis use down. That was what we were doing, and it would be a core element of the new drugs strategy.

Asked if the Prime Minister welcomed the candour with which the Home Secretary approached the subject, the PMS replied that this was a matter for Ministers to answer. There was no No10 edict on this one way or the other. Ministers would make their own decisions as to how they wanted to answer these questions, as they were personal decisions and personal matter for them.

Asked if it was thought that she was leading by example by being truthful with voters, the PMS said that these were personal matters for Ministers to decide how they wanted to answer these questions.

Asked if the Prime Minister concurred with David Cameron’s view that politicians had a right to a private past should they wish it, the PMS said that he did not want to comment on anything that the Leader of the Opposition had said.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that politicians had a right to a private past, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister thought that it was a matter for individual Ministers to decide. He had made his position clear, as had the Home Secretary. The Prime Minister’s position was that as he had said several times before, the most recent being in the Independent last month, he had not taken illegal drugs.

Asked why not, the PMS replied that if people looked at the Independent interview, the Prime Minister had said that there was never a big drug culture at either his school or university, but that was not necessarily an excuse!

Asked if Cabinet had discussed the drugs strategy and how they should deal with questions, the PMS said that was not discussed.

Put that it did seem co-ordinated with regards to people suddenly answering calls and giving information on a subject like this when they wouldn’t normally, the PMS replied that this was a matter for individual Ministers to answer. We were not saying that they should answer in one way or another; it was up to them.

Asked if Ministers were informed by Downing Street that it was up to them, the PMS replied that Ministers were aware of the position.

Asked if Jacqui Smith had told the Prime Minister about her drug taking record when she was appointed, the PMS said that she had answered that question this morning. She had said that she didn’t, and the Prime Minister had not asked.

Asked if the Prime Minister had been in touch with Jacqui Smith since her admission, the PMS replied that it had only recently happened. He spoke to his Ministers regularly, and he had no issue with how she had dealt with this.

Asked again if the Prime Minister had been in contact on this issue with the Home Secretary, the PMS said that he was not aware that the Prime Minister had. However, there was no particular reason why he would need to, as he had no issue with the way it was dealt with.

Asked with regards to the Advisory Council’s meeting about the cannabis reclassification and if they came back with the same answer they did before, was there any chance of overruling them, the PMS replied that we would have to wait and see what they said. This was a consultation, and they had been asked to look at the case for reclassification, but the consultation had not yet been fully launched.

Put that there was to be more public consultation on the issue, and what form would that take, the PMS replied that that was for the Home Office to set out once they had launched the consultation.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that it was feasible to classify bits of the drug, for example, "skunk" being a different strain, the PMS said that we were not at that point yet.

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» Thursday, July 19, 2007

Drugs

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