Downing Street Says » The Queen’s Speech

» Monday, May 24, 2010

The Queen’s Speech

Asked why there wouldn’t be an official inquiry into the Queen’s Speech leak, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that this had only just happened over the weekend and we were looking into it. We had concluded that there wouldn’t be an official inquiry, but we would not go into particular detail about how that decision had been reached.

Put that it was a serious business, the PMS said that the Queen’s Speech was an important event in the Parliamentary calendar and it was disappointing to see it reported in the Sunday newspapers in the way it was.

Asked what the Prime Minister’s view was on things being announced to the media rather than leaked, the PMS said that the standard procedure in terms of announcements was that important announcements were made to Parliament first.

Put that in the interest of open government and accountability it was important for people to be told why there wouldn’t be an official inquiry, the PMS said that this had happened over the course of the weekend, we were looking into how it happened and people should let us get on with that.

Asked who made the decision to not have a leak inquiry, the PMS said that he wouldn’t get into the process in terms of who took what decisions.

Asked if there had been any communication between Ministers, the Palace and the Speaker of the House of Commons, the PMS said that he would not get drawn into talking about the process around this; the Palace put out a short statement over the weekend, as had Downing Street, and there was nothing further to add.

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