Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Euro, European Convention, Reshuffle, Weapons of Mass Destruction and Deputy Prime Minister.
Euro
Asked if the Prime Minister would be seeing the Chancellor this weekend the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor would no doubt continue to talk on a daily basis as they had done for the last few weeks.
Asked if the Cabinet had agreed to produce draft legislation with regards to a possible referendum on the Euro, the PMOS said that we would all just have to wait for the statement on Monday by the Chancellor. The PMOS said that in relation to Cabinet yesterday, it had been a two and a half hour discussion that came at the end of a very detailed process of consultation between the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and their Cabinet colleagues, which they had all valued. There was unity around the Cabinet table, following a very constructive, serious discussion and the fruits of that would be announced by the Chancellor at 3.30pm on Monday to the House of Commons.
European Convention
Questioned if the British government still intended to preserve its veto at the European Union in matters such as Foreign Affairs and Defence the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had made his position clear on those issues as recently as last week at the briefing en route to the Middle East. There would be a discussion within the Inter-Governmental Conference following the conclusion of the convention. Everything had to be agreed unanimously before there could be treaty changes. We would engage constructively. Britain was keen to see Qualified Majority Voting in area’s where the government believed it would be in the British national interest. The PMOS gave the example of asylum policy, where the UK believed it was possible for Europe to go further, faster. Equally there were some areas where we were not prepared to countenance change. Asked to confirm those areas the PMOS reminded journalists that the Prime Minister had made it clear that the British position remained that in matters of Foreign Policy, Defence and Taxation unanimity would have to prevail.
Reshuffle
Asked if there was any response to the reshuffle questions in today’s newspapers the PMOS said that you did not have to be an international grandmaster of political and media studies to know that stories of this nature appeared at this time of year. Journalists then came to briefings to ask us about them and we gave one of three responses. Option 1 was "That is a reshuffle question". Option 2 was "We never comment on reshuffles", and then there was the exiting option 3 where options 1 and 2 were connected by the word "and". This year was no different.
Weapons of Mass Destruction
Questioned on what the Prime Minister’s reaction was to the continued concerns expressed by Hans Blix about the failure to find evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in Iraq, the PMOS said that we should look at the totality of Mr. Blix’s comments in his interview to get a rounded picture of his view on the issue. The PMOS quoted Mr. Blix as saying "If they [WMD] exist they should be presented, if they don’t exist they should tell us what has happened to them and they weren’t able to do that." Mr. Blix had also said: "I’m trying to explain to myself why if they didn’t have anything, didn’t they behave differently. They could have avoided in that case ten years of sanctions and they could have avoided the war, and Saddam would probably have remained, though that isn’t a nice prospect." There was a process which was now underway. What we had said throughout and the Prime Minster said in his answer to Charles Kennedy on Wednesday, was that the issue of time had not been as crucial as the issue of co-operation. The Prime Minister was absolutely confident as he had said throughout in respect of WMD. Clearly having access to people who had been involved in programs in relation to WMD was important, equally having full access and more people on the ground was important. As we had said throughout people had to exercise patience. Time would tell, but we remained as confidant as we were on Wednesday when we had last answered a question on this. Asked if the Prime Minister had any idea of when we would find evidence of WMD given that we now had full access to sources in Iraq, the PMOS said the International Survey Team was only just starting its program of work. The team would no doubt have to interview a very large number of people and as the Prime Minister said they may have to visit hundreds if not thousands of sites. We had to exercise a bit of patience because again as we have said on many occasions, the post-conflict priority has been reconstruction and humanitarian concerns. Asked what form the International Survey Team’s reports would take, the PMOS said that in terms of the evidence that might be brought forward, we would not be giving a running commentary but the Prime Minister had given an undertaking to bring that evidence forward in due course. In terms of independent verification, UN resolution 1483 had indicated that the Security Council would revisit the role of UNMOVIC at a later date.
Deputy Prime Minister
Asked to comment on Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott’s gesture to the press before Cabinet yesterday the PMOS said that from what he saw on the news it seemed there had been a fairly lively, good natured atmosphere amongst the media in the street yesterday. The PMOS joked that Mr. Prescott had recognized that the media would all have to do Euro stories and had been offering some pictoral embellishments to help them along. The PMOS said no-one here was too fussed about it and if they were being honest about it nor did he think the press were either. What happened inside the Cabinet yesterday was obviously of far more importance and weight than anything that may have happened in the street before or after it and Mr. Prescott had made an excellent contribution to what was a very good discussion. Asked if Mr. Prescott would remain as Deputy Prime Minister after any reshuffle, the PMOS referred journalists to the reply he had given earlier concerning reshuffle questions.
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