Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Business Academies, UNGA and Iraq/WMD/BLIX.
Business Academies
The PMOS informed journalists that the Prime Minister would be visiting Bexley this afternoon. Together with Charles Clarke, he would be formally opening a new Business Academy in one of the most deprived areas of London, a project which had cost £32m and of which sponsorship had contributed just over £2m. It was a stunning new building which had been designed by Norman Foster in the middle of a fairly run-down area in Bexley. It was the ethos and new spirit of commitment that the coming specialist school had already engendered which was already producing results. This year, the number of five good GCSE passes had trebled in the school. However, that was only the beginning both in relation to this school and other Specialist schools. By the end of this year, the majority of pupils in secondary schools would be in Specialist schools or new Academies. Twelve Academies had already been opened. Twenty five more were planned and the Prime Minister would be announcing a further programme of development. His main message today was, "The bigger the challenge to achieve social justice, the bolder the reforms needed to reach the goal". He would make it clear that this was a message not only for Bexley or indeed education, but for public services in general.
Put to him by the Evening Standard that Bexley wasn’t a particularly deprived area - indeed it was "Footballers’ Wives" territory, the PMOS said that if the Standard really wanted to insult its readers, this was a good way to go about it. However, he certainly had no intention of doing so. He pointed out that the area surrounding the school was a relatively run-down area. The project had had a major effect on the commitment of pupils to the school and had clearly helped to produce good results.
Asked what had prompted the Prime Minister to visit Bexley today to deliver his ‘no surrender’ message, the PMOS said that he would disagree with the premise of the question. The Prime Minister was in Bexley because Bexley was a very good example of the kind of bold reforms which the Government had been undertaking and which had been feeding through in lots of different areas, such as health and education, which were now beginning to bear fruit. This was only the start of the process. Twelve Academies had now been opened. Twenty five more were coming on stream and the Prime Minister would announce plans for more today. It was that process of reform, of taking big steps, which was beginning to produce results across the public services. Of course that did not mean that there wasn’t a lot more to do. However, it was clear that people were beginning to see the changes on their own street and in their own schools and hospitals. The investment and reform programme was obviously beginning to deliver real concrete results which, in the case of the people of Bexley, meant a better education for their children.
Asked if the Prime Minister would be announcing more money for any particular areas today, the PMOS said no. He would announce the number of new Academies which we hoped to build. He would also outline the effect which the extra investment had had on teacher training numbers in areas such as maths, science and languages.
UNGA
Asked why the Prime Minister would not be attending the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York next week, the PMOS said that there was nothing unusual in that. In the past, the Foreign Secretary had attended more often than the Prime Minister. Other countries also acted in a similar way. Questioned further, the PMOS said he did not think anyone should read any significance into the fact that the Prime Minister would not be there. There was no rule as to whether he should or should not attend. As he understood it, the Foreign Secretary had attended more often than the Prime Minister in the past.
Iraq/WMD/BLIX
Asked for a reaction to Hans Blix’s comments this morning about WMD, the PMOS said he did not think anyone should be particularly surprised as Dr Blix had been making similar comments since finishing his job in Iraq in the Spring. Things had moved on since then. The most recent assessment of intelligence had been carried out by the ISC who had had access to all the relevant material and had published their report last week. Although they had given one or two ideas suggesting how things might have been done better, their bottom line was that the September dossier had given the best assessment possible on the evidence available at the time. The reality on the ground would be considered by the Iraq Survey Group (ISG). Asked if the Prime Minister had received any indication as to when the ISG would publish their report, the PMOS said that that was a matter for the ISG. It would not be helpful to pre-empt the outcome of their work. Asked if he was implying that Dr Blix was ‘behind the times’, the PMOS said that he hadn’t been implying anything - and putting words into his mouth wouldn’t help matters either. He had said what he had said. The ISC report had concluded in the way it had. Journalists might not like it, but that was the reality of the situation. In answer to further questions about Dr Blix’s comments, the PMOS said he thought that most people would recognise that while we could say more in reply to Dr Blix, there was a limit to what it was appropriate to say in the light of the ongoing Hutton Inquiry. However, he took the opportunity to remind journalists that in November 2002, the UN had passed Resolution 1441 unanimously. The Resolution had stated that Iraq’s WMD was a threat to international security.
Asked for a reaction to Dr Blix’s accusation that the Government had been bending evidence to suit its case, the PMOS said that to reply to the question was to venture into Hutton territory, which he had no intention of doing. He would simply refer journalists to the ISC report. Put to him that using the Hutton Inquiry as an excuse not to answer questions was very convenient, the PMOS said he had simply been making the point that the ISC report contained the most recent assessment of the intelligence. We had welcomed the report. This was probably the best to way to answer the questions being put to him without interfering with the Hutton Inquiry. Put to him that the ISC report had also concluded that the way the 45 minutes claim had been presented meant that any ordinary person who was unused to reading intelligence material would have been misled, the PMOS pointed out that he had already acknowledged that the report had contained one or two suggestions for the Government to bear in mind. We would reply formally to the report after the Hutton Inquiry.
Asked if the Prime Minister remained convinced that WMD would be found, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had answered this question many times in the past. He had nothing further to add to what he had said. Asked to remind journalists what the Prime Minister had said, the PMOS replied that they should refer to their cuttings. He was not going to go back over old territory. Asked if the Prime Minister had been referring to actual weapons or weapons programmes, the PMOS repeated that he had no intention of going back over old ground. The Prime Minister’s words on this subject were on the record. Journalists could look them up for themselves. Put to him that it was odd he was refusing to ‘rehearse’ the Prime Minister’s views given the importance of the issue, the PMOS said that the fact he had declined to do so was in no way to under-play the importance of the matter. The simple point was that he did not want to get drawn into areas which were the subject of the Hutton Inquiry. We had given a very considered response to the ISC report. He did not want to go beyond that, for reasons that were perfectly right and proper. Put to him that he appeared to be in danger of turning the Hutton Inquiry into an investigation into why we had gone to war - which wasn’t what the Inquiry was about, the PMOS said that he would disagree in the strongest terms possible. The limits of the Inquiry had been set out at the time. Lord Hutton had been very clear as to what it was that he was investigating.
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