Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Electoral Commission, Sir Haydn Phillips, Big Brother, Peter Hain and Middle East
Electoral Commission
Put that Alastair Graham’s report was suggesting fines for political parties, and had the Government reached a view on any of the suggestions it contained, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that the important thing was that we took the time to study the report.
Sir Haydn Phillips
Asked if the Prime Minister had seen Sir Haydn Phillips in the past 24 hours, the PMOS said that as he had briefed several times in the week, he was not going to give a running commentary on when the Prime Minister met people who prepared reports for him. It was a matter which the Prime Minister remained engaged with and that process continued.
Big Brother
Asked by the BBC if the Prime Minister would be relaxed if police investigations were taken seriously enough to consider charges of racism against any of the individuals concerned, the PMOS said that the key point for the Government was that they identified yesterday which was that any suggestion that the UK in some way tolerated racism needed to be countered strongly. The one lesson that people could draw from the controversy around this issue was that that was not the case, and this country did not tolerate racism. There were processes by which complaints could be looked at and considered, and that was why OFCOM was involved, and we had to respect the role of OFCOM in other comments.
The PMOS also said that if other people went by other means, that was a matter for them, and was not a matter that the Government should get involved in. The PMOS reiterated that the important thing for the Government was that we sent the message out loud and clear that in no way did we tolerate racism.
Asked if the Prime Minister, or his office, had any view on Channel 4 chiefs refusal to comment on this, the PMOS replied that it was important that people reached their own judgements, and that the proper processes were followed. That was what was OFCOM was there for, and that was the role that they were looking at.
Asked if we could afford to allow this to continue without Channel 4 intervening in some to show that they agreed with what we had said, the PMOS said that everyone had to be aware that this was a serious issue that we had to look at and deal with. That was why we had to emphasise what the clear message from this country was, which was that we would not tolerate racism. As for the judgement as to whether what had happened constituted that or not, that was where other people came in.
Asked if the Prime Minister had now watched the programme, or was he planning to, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had not watched the programme. The supervisory role was not one for the Prime Minister, but rather, it was one for OFCOM. They should be allowed to play that role without us second-guessing what their judgement would be.
Asked if we would like OFCOM to quickly "get on with it", the PMOS replied that it did not help people reach judgements if we gave a running commentary. There were serious issues here, and no doubt, they were being considered.
Asked by BBC24 if the Prime Minister would urge people to vote in a particular way to express their opposition to racism, the PMOS said that the difference between being a Cabinet Minister and being Prime Minister was that Prime Ministers did not get involved in these sorts of contests. The PMOS continued that there was a serious side to the issue, and part of recognising that was to recognise that there were set procedures for dealing with this kind of issue, ie, through OFCOM. If people treated the issue seriously, then they also had to treat the process of complaint seriously as well.
Asked if the Prime Minister had been approached by the Indian Government about the issue, the PMOS said that the British High Commissioner had been in touch with the Indian Government in Delhi to underline the means by which we handled these kinds of complaints. As people knew, the Chancellor was in India, and the Prime Minister, both at PMQs and through the PMOS had also underlined that message to India. The message was that any allegation that the UK in some way tolerated racism was something that could do enormous damage. Therefore, we had to be very clear that that was not the case, and the response that there had been had underlined that. That was not to get into a judgement about the programme, but rather, was simply to underline what was an important message.
Peter Hain
Asked if the Prime Minister had any comments to make on Peter Hain’s article in the New Statesman, the PMOS said that as people knew, it was in a political context and therefore, he was not going to comment on it.
Asked about Peter Hain’s comments regarding the US, the PMOS said that the journalist knew the context in which those comments were made and he said that he did not want to talk about what was a political contest in any way, as it was not his role to do so. Cabinet collective responsibility remained, but equally, the PMOS said that he had to recognise that Cabinet Minister were also party members and they would make statements in that context.
Asked that when the PMOS had said that he could not speak about the New Statesman article, did that mean that everyone knew that he was running for the Deputy leadership, the PMOS said that the journalist was more able to make that judgement than he was.
Put that in the article, Peter Hain had said that it was important for the Government to maintain the "working relationship" with the US Administration, and was that all we were doing, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister had spoken in the past about his view of the relationship with Europe and the US, and he did not in any way resile from that. The PMOS said that he would decline from the journalist’s "Gibbon-esque type of question to try and comment on something that he said he was not going to. The PMOS added that it was almost a huge compliment, that was only surpassed by the other well-known device: "The Oakley"!
Asked by Channel 4’s Political Editor if there was anything in Peter Hain’s interview that made us so sure that this was not just "high minded statesman-like intervention", the PMOS replied that that was a "Gibbon-esque" question, and he would completely decline it. However, there was nothing like the real thing!
Middle East
Put that the Prime Minister had spoken about progress in the Middle East, and did the UK plan to "play" Iran on its own, or was there going to be some EU united view, the PMOS replied that the important thing that we had taken away from our two recent trips to the Middle East was the need for engagement at all levels and by many different people in many different ways. The important thing was that we kept talking to each other, not only about what our impressions were of what was happening on the ground, but also, of how we could help push things forward. That was partly why tonight’s meeting with Condoleezza Rice would be important.
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