Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: House Manager, Iraq, Troops and Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Act of Union, Lord Triesman, Alastair Graham and Policy Inquiry
House Manager
The PMOS reiterated that there were no plans for the Prime Minister to have a personal butler. He added that this was an invention of the newspapers, but what there were plans to have, as there have been under every Prime Minister, a house manager for Downing Street. The house manager would look after the House, not the family.
Iraq
Asked if the Prime Minister was confident, as the Iraqi Vice President Mr. Hashemi was, that if the armed forces in Iraq were reformed UK forces could be withdrawn in a year’s time, the PMOS said that he had not seen the briefing to which the reporter referred but the Prime Minister was meeting Mr. Hashemi at the moment. In terms of the overall situation it depended on the conditions on the ground. The policy of Iraqisation is one that the UK has been pursuing since Easter 2004. It is a process of making sure that the Iraqi have the capacity and capability to run things themselves. That is our aspiration but it does depend on the conditions on the ground.
The PMOS added that he would not be drawn on committing to a particular time scale. The Secretary of State for the Foreign Office and the Secretary of State for Defence have spoken about the rough time frames in the past but there was nothing to add to that and it did depend on the conditions on the ground, not least the completion of Operation Sinbad. The Prime Minister will assess the situation once the operation has finished. After a period of assessment the Prime Minister will make a statement in the House of Commons.
Asked if the Prime Minister will discuss with Mr. Hashemi the need to disarm the Shi’a militia as they are part of the problem, the PMOS said that Prime Minister Maliki has spoken of the need to end the militia problem, in particular in Baghdad, and we fully agree with that and that is in part why we support the US decision, as announced last week.
The PMOS added that in every conversation the Prime Minister has on Iraq he emphasises the need to deal with the militia problem whether it is Sunni or Shi’a. Asked if the Prime Minister would be voicing concern over the use of the death penalty and the way the executions of Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar had taken place, the PMOS said that he had always made clear our opposition to the death penalty, including after it was imposed on Saddam Hussein. That has remained a consistent part of our message.
Asked if there was any comment on the manner of the recent executions, the PMOS said that we recognise the right of the sovereign government of Iraq to take a contrary view to ours on the death penalty. However we did emphasis that if the executions were to be carried out they should be done so in a dignified way. If, as it appears to be the case, this did not happen then that clearly was wrong, but as the Prime Minister said after the execution of Saddam Hussein the manner of death should neither obscure the crimes these people committed against the Iraqi people nor excuse the manner in which they died if indeed it did go wrong.
Asked if it was the British view that there should be a complete withdrawal of troops at some point as the Iraqi deputy President seems to be suggesting a full withdrawal, not just a withdrawal to barracks, the PMOS said that we had no wish to remain in Iraq any longer than the Iraqi government wishes us to be there or in any numbers, what it depends on is the situation on the ground and the need for support for the Iraqi government. What we hope is that the Iraqi government develops a capability and the capacity to fulfil that role itself.
Troops and Afghanistan
Asked if the New York Times was correct to suggest that the Prime Minister and Mr. Bill Gates had discussed sending more British troops to Afghanistan, the PMOS said in terms of the conversation with Mr. Gates, as was said this morning, it was a private conversation. Asked if the Prime Minister would consider sending more troops, the PMOS said that he would not be getting into hypothetical questions.
Al-Qaeda
Asked if the Prime Minister would be pressing President Musharraf and the Pakistani government to do more following comments made by John Negroponte that Al-Qaeda was operating freely in Pakistan, the PMOS said that when the Prime Minister was last in Pakistan, before Christmas we were assured by President Musharraf that Pakistan was doing everything it could to counter the influence of Al-Qaeda in that region. We have seen progress in that regard in recent months.
Act of Union
Asked how the Prime Minister would celebrate the Act of Union, the PMOS said he would find out and get back to the reporter.
Lord Triesman
Asked if, as the Opposition had suggested, that the appointment of Lord Triesman was an admission of failure, the PMOS said he did not want to get into party politics but in terms of the rationale a large part of the discussion around this issue involves relations with foreign countries and therefore necessitates a focus on developing relations and understandings with foreign countries. Therefore it is entirely appropriate that a minister in the Foreign Office takes on this role. Asked why now as it was an odd time to do it as the Prime Minister had been on the subject for some years now, the PMOS said we have made some progress in terms of memorandums of understanding and so on, but it is an issue which the Prime Minister is determined to make progress on in the months ahead.
Alastair Graham
Asked if any decision had been made regarding Alastair Graham, the PMOS said that no decision has been.
Police Inquiry
Asked if Jonathan Powell had been interviewed, the PMOS said he did not talk about civil servants and Jonathan Powell is, as a special adviser, a temporary civil servant.
delicious
digg
facebook
