Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Stoiber, Wembley and Newsnight Interview.
Stoiber
Asked about the Prime Minister’s meeting today with Edmund Stoiber, the German CDU leader, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that they had discussed a whole range of European and Anglo-German issues, as you would expect. Questioned as to whether the issue of the European Council Presidency had been raised, the PMOS said no.
Wembley
Asked if the Prime Minister’s patience was wearing thin over the sale of Wembley, the PMOS said that the allegations which had been made today did not take us much further forward on where we were last December. Since then, Tessa Jowell had put in place a programme which we hoped would lead to a successful outcome this time around. People would need to be patient for just a little longer to allow the process to work itself through.
Put to him that we had been asking people to be patient for at least a year - and still nothing had happened, the PMOS said he acknowledged that the process was taking longer than anyone would have wished. However, it would be worthwhile to wait just a little more.
Newsnight Interview
Asked about the Prime Minister’s comment in his Newsnight interview, due to be shown tonight, in which he had appeared to say that he would stay on as Prime Minister until the next Parliament, the PMOS said that it was important to understand what the Prime Minister had actually said. Jeremy Paxman had asked, "You plan to lead the party into the next election?"
The Prime Minister had replied, "I have said that I will stand for a full term". Mr Paxman: "And that would be a full term? Prime Minister "Well……". Mr Paxman: "A full third term?" Prime Minister: "Yup, but I am honestly not getting into speculating about it, please".
Clearly, the Prime Minister had been confirming what he had already said publicly - that he would stand for a full term this time. He had said nothing about his intentions after the next election.
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