Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Fire Dispute, Iraq, Lords Reform, Israeli General Election and 2012 Olympic Games.
Fire Dispute
Asked if he would agree that the Government’s line had hardened as a result of the new powers announced by the Deputy Prime Minister yesterday, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said no. The onus remained on the FBU to call off its strike action and return to the negotiating table. The powers that the Deputy Prime Minister would be taking would be reserve ‘backstop’ powers. If the FBU didn’t want them to be used, they should engage in proper negotiation. Everyone knew what the issues were. Equally, they were aware that modernisation had to take place. The FBU themselves had wanted to go down the Acas route. That process remained ready for them to use - and they should do so.
Questioned about the possibility of introducing a strike ban or taking the FBU to court if they continued their industrial action, the PMOS said that the Deputy Prime Minister had already set out the next steps in the process. We believed that we had to address the issue of modernisation. Other issues and options would be considered if and when that was considered to be necessary. Asked if he was ruling out the possibility of a strike ban, the PMOS said that as we had stated from the outset, we would continue to review the situation as we went along.
Iraq
Asked the Prime Minister’s reaction to President Bush’s State of the Union Address last night, the PMOS said that President Bush had set out very eloquently the reasons why we needed to take action to ensure that Saddam was disarmed. The case needed to be made repeatedly. After Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s, the world had decided that Iraq had to pay a price for its aggression. It was judged that it would not be safe for Saddam to possess weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and he should not be allowed to do so. For the past twelve years, Saddam had effectively been saying that the cheque was in the post. People were now beginning to realise, particularly in the light of Hans Blix’s carefully worded, damning indictment on Monday, that Saddam had no intention of paying the price the world had demanded. We had to draw our own conclusions from that. As Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the UK’s Ambassador to the UN, had said on Monday, the key to this issue was Saddam’s attitude. Would it change or not? It was up to him to decide.
Asked if the Prime Minister believed that the intelligence which Colin Powell had said he would publish would demonstrate a conclusive link between Iraq and Al Qaida, the PMOS pointed out that the Prime Minister had indicated during his session with the Liaison Committee last week that Al Qaida operatives were being sheltered in Iraq. As he had stated, "There was some intelligence evidence about loose links between Al Qaida and various people in Iraq". Put to him that the Prime Minister had not mentioned the fact that Al Qaida operatives were being ’sheltered’ there, the PMOS pointed out that given the way the Iraqi government operated, Al Qaida would not be allowed to remain there unless the Iraqis wanted them to be there.
Asked if he would agree that war looked far more inevitable today in the light of President Bush’s State of the Union Address, the PMOS said that that was a question for Saddam Hussein. Did Iraq have WMD - yes or no? Following Dr Blix’s statement to the UN Security Council on Monday, it was now very difficult for anyone with any credibility to argue that the answer to that was no. The onus remained on Saddam to make up his mind and decide whether to change his attitude and co-operate with the UN.
Lords Reform
Asked the Prime Minister’s view on the membership of the House of Lords given today’s Guardian report that he had told backbench MPs he supported a wholly-appointed Chamber, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister would set out his views to Parliament at the appropriate time.
Israeli General Election
Asked for the Prime Minister’s reaction to the results of the General Election held in Israel yesterday, the PMOS said that the Israeli people had spoken and it was now up to the parties there to form a Government. Obviously we would want to work with the new Israeli Administration - in the same way we had with the previous one - to take forward the process set out by President Bush and to continue working towards both a secure Israel and a viable Palestinian state. Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister would phone Prime Minister Sharon to congratulate him on his victory, the PMOS said that he was not aware of any plans for him to do so at this stage. Asked to comment on the state of relations between the UK and Israel, the PMOS said that they had not changed. As Prime Minister Sharon himself had said, while we had disagreements from time to time, Israel valued its dialogue with us. Similarly, we valued our dialogue with them.
2012 Olympic Games
Asked whether tomorrow’s Cabinet discussion about a possible London bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games was expected to produce a decision, the PMOS said that the discussions on this issue were likely to continue into next week.
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