Downing Street Says » Prime Minister’s Letter

Asked when the precedent was set for Prime Ministers to hand-write letters of condolence, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that it was his understanding that Gordon Brown as Prime Minister had always done this. The PMS added that it was also his understanding that the Prime Minister’s predecessor also used to hand-write letters, alongside a typed version, but he was not 100% certain of that.

Asked if there had been any other instances of people not being able to read the Prime Minister’s letters, the PMS said that it was his understanding that there hadn’t been any other instances.

Asked what the explanation was for the Prime Minister to mis-pronounce the surname of the soldier in PMQs and then spell his name incorrectly in the letter, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister put an enormous amount of care and attention into both the letters and when he read out names in the House of Commons.

It was only human to stumble on these things occasionally; the Prime Minister ensured that he delivered the names in the appropriate way. As people would know, the Prime Minister had made a statement this morning, where he apologised for any unintended mistake.

This was a very important thing for the Prime Minister and he took it very seriously; he was mortified to think that anyone would be offended by it. As he said in his statement, the Prime Minister would never write a letter with any intent to cause offence.

Asked if it was a stumble on the part of the Prime Minister or the fault of No10 paperwork, the PMS said that he had no evidence to suggest that it was the paperwork. Put that it was the Prime Minister’s stumble, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had stumbled on the name in the House but corrected that as soon as possible. The PMS said that the family had suffered a terrible tragedy and the Prime Minister wrote to all families in this situation.

Asked if the Prime Minister had had an operation on his good eye , the PMS said that the Prime Minister had had more than one operation on the eye that he had lost. The PMS said that he was not aware of any specifics on any operations; the Prime Minister had his good eye examined from time to time and that’s when it was discovered that he had the condition that had been reported in September.

Put that there had been scarring on the Prime Minister’s good eye, the PMS said that the word tearing had been used rather than scarring. The PMS said that the Prime Minister had regular checks on that eye and there had been no deterioration in his eyesight. The Prime Minister had been very open with the fact that he had lost his other eye in a rugby accident.

Asked if it was the Prime Minister’s eyesight that was at fault for the incorrect spelling of the name, the PMS said that what the Prime Minister had admitted was that he did not have very good handwriting. Asked if he was reading from handwriting in the House of Commons or from something that was printed, the PMS said that he was quite certain that the Prime Minister would have been reading from printed script.

Asked if the Prime Minister had had any further check-ups on his eye, the PMS said that we had said at the time of the last check-up that we would update people as appropriate in terms of any further investigations.

Asked if it was the Prime Minister’s eyesight that prevented him from checking what he had written or was it that his handwriting was so unique that the official that checked it could not understand what he had written, the PMS said that the Prime Minister took enormous care and attention in writing these letters. These were very important letters, not just for the Prime Minister, but more importantly for the people who received them. The PMS said that he did not know whether the Prime Minister’s handwriting had changed over the years or whether it had always been as unique as it was today.

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» Monday, November 9, 2009

Prime Minister’s Letter

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