Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Sarkozy Meeting/EU, Iraq, Libya MOU and BAE
Sarkozy Meeting/EU
Asked for further information about a proposed meeting this week between the Prime Minister, President Sarkozy and the Chancellor, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that there was a proposal for a meeting, but it was a question of whether diaries came together.
Asked if Gordon Brown would attend such a meeting, the PMOS replied that there was a proposal, but people were looking at diaries.
Asked who had made the proposal, the PMOS said whilst he knew that the process was all that journalists cared about, it was the substance that we cared about. Therefore, we would concentrate on the substance.
Put that there was a substantial about of substance, so therefore it was the process that mattered, the PMOS said that the substance was whether there was broad agreement on what it was that we were aiming for, which was an amendment treaty. As President Sarkozy had made clear at G8, there was agreement on that broad outline, but there was still a lot of work still to do, and there would be a lot of talking between now and the summit. That was the substance.
Iraq
Asked about the current thinking on an Iraq inquiry, the PMOS replied that first and foremost, there had been four inquiries on Iraq. Secondly, what mattered now was what happened on the ground in terms of the military effort, political effort and the economic effort. That was where the focus we believed should be.
Asked further about how an inquiry might affect troops in Iraq, the PMOS said that anything that diverted the energy, commitment and focus that was going into trying to get the military, economic and political situation right we believed, was a distraction. The focus should be on getting it right on the ground.
Put that the Chancellor this morning had said that he felt that mistakes had been made and there were lessons to be learnt from Iraq, and did the Prime Minister feel the same, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister had said quite openly that of course, with the benefit of hindsight, issues such as de-baathification might have been handled differently. What he had also said, however, was at the time, everybody thought that de-baathification was the right thing policy, and there was a lot of pressure from within Iraq for the policy. The PMOS said that of course, there were things which with the benefit of hindsight people could look at and ask if it was right or wrong. The important thing was to focus on what we needed to do now to make the process of reconciliation within Iraq work, to protect the democratic Government from terrorist attack and to turn around the economic situation for the ordinary Iraqi citizens.
Put that he had said the Prime Minister had spoken about mistakes in Iraq at PMQs, but they were not to be found, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister had talked quite openly about the issue of de-baathification. He had also spoken quite openly about the claim that we could have in some way stopped the disbanding of the army. The reality was that the army had completely disappeared, so there were issues. What we were focused on, however, was the present.
Libya MOU
Asked by the Herald if the Prime Minister would be writing to the Scottish Executive with regards to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and also, that the Government had tried to get through to the Scottish Executive, but couldn’t get through as it was a Bank Holiday according to some reports, the PMOS said that the whole premise to this story was a red herring. The MOU did not cover the al-Megrahi case. Secondly, we would say nothing and do nothing about that case whiles it was the subject of a legal review. Thirdly, in the MOU, it said in black and white that this was only at a draft stage and before further work was done, we would need to consult with the devolved administrations. At every stage of this so-called story it went into a blind alley.
Put that the FCO were saying that they had advised the Prime Minister to contact the Scottish Executive, the PMOS replied that that was not actually what the FCO had said. Equally, it said it in the MOU that we acknowledged that the devolved administrations would have to be consulted. The PMOS said that people could not base an entire story on the assertion that the MOU in some way covered a case when it did not. Equally, people could not base an entire story on the assertion that somehow we were going to ignore the devolved administration. People should get real.
Asked if we were saying that the FCO reports were not true, and that this Government had not tried to contact the Scottish Executive on the Bank Holiday Monday, the PMOS said that we were talking about the arrangements for an MOU in the UK as a whole, but we were only at its draft stage. Even at that draft stage, we said that we would need to consult the devolved administrations. In terms of the process, the PMOS said that he was not going to get into any details any more than he would about anything else. In terms of the premise of the story, it was completely wrong - how many times did we have to say it? The PMOS added that if he sounded exasperated, it was because he was.
Put that the PMOS was not answering the question, the PMOS replied that he was not treating Scotland any differently to anywhere else. He did not get into processology.
Asked again if the FCO had advised Downing Street on phoning the Scottish Executive, and did the Government try to get in contact with them on Bank Holiday Monday, the PMOS said that he was not aware of the FCO having said what the journalist had said, as we had told the Herald on the record. Secondly, the PMOS repeated that he did not get into the process of contacts between Government departments.
BAE
Asked to comment about BAE appointing Lord Woolf, the PMOS replied that that was entirely a matter for BAE.
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