Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Iraq.
Iraq
Asked if the Prime Minister would be meeting President Chirac in the margins of the European Council in Brussels, the PMOS said that there was a dinner for European leaders this evening, so that would obviously present opportunities for people to talk to each other. He pointed out that reports the Prime Minister had asked for a bilateral with President Chirac were not accurate. The Prime Minister was attending the Summit because he wanted to have a serious discussion about the important humanitarian issues which would flow from a post-Saddam Iraq. As we had pointed out on many occasions, the country was already experiencing a huge humanitarian crisis. For example, 60% of the population was on food aid and there was a higher infant mortality rate than Mozambique. These were clearly pressing humanitarian issues which the international community was looking to address - and doing so in the full knowledge that there was a difference of opinion between ourselves and France on the military action. Asked whether the Prime Minister would extend the hand of friendship to the President in an effort to ‘heal the wounds’ of the past week, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had wanted to attend the Summit because he wanted to have a good discussion about humanitarian issues in a post-Saddam Iraq which would result in practical outcomes. It was no secret that the UK and France held differing views on Iraq. However, this was not the one issue which defined the relationship. There were many other issues on which we agreed. There was no animosity. The Prime Minister and President Chirac had had perfectly good-natured telephone conversation last Friday. That said, neither leader was attending the Summit expecting to change the other’s mind. Obviously that was not going to happen. However, we were continuing to talk to each other. He pointed out the level of support at both fifteen and twenty five for the British position. Asked whether the issue of a post-Saddam government would be discussed at the Summit, the PMOS said it was very possible that the issue would be raised. In the immediate term, we had to focus on getting help to people in need of humanitarian assistance in Iraq. Running almost parallel to that was a different, but equally important, discussion taking place about the need to restore good governance in a post-Saddam Iraq. However, it was clear that the one issue followed the other.
Asked if the Prime Minister had noticed the anti-war demonstrations in Westminster today, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had always accepted that there were different views in this debate. We lived in a democracy and he had always respected people’s right to express their opinions. It went without saying that that right did not exist in Iraq. That said, and as Parliament had shown in the last thirty-six hours, everyone believed that now was the time to express support for our forces in the Gulf, as indeed the majority of the country was doing.
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