Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Iraq, Domestic Agenda and Lords Reform.
Iraq
Asked if Hans Blix had any role to play in the Iraq Survey Group’s (ISG)work, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said not as far as he was aware. As he understood it, his role as a UN weapons inspector had finished in the Spring. Asked if Dr Blix had been back to Iraq since then, the PMOS said that he wasn’t a spokesman for Dr Blix and therefore did not have an intimate knowledge of his whereabouts.
Questioned as to whether there had been any communication or correspondence between the ISG and the Government outlining the progress of their work in Iraq, the PMOS said that the ISG would report when they reported. He had no intention of providing a running commentary in the meantime. Asked to whom they would report, the PMOS said that they would report to the US Government in the first instance. Asked if the Prime Minister had had any intimation as to the report’s contents, the PMOS said that people needed to exercise a little patience. He was not going to pre-empt the ISG’s work. People should wait for the outcome of what was going to be an interim report. Asked if it was expected this year, the PMOS said that that was a matter for the ISG.
Domestic Agenda
Asked if the Prime Minister’s decision not to attend the UN General Assembly (UNGA) next week was part of a conscious effort to spend more time in the UK and focus his attention on the domestic agenda, the PMOS said that in the past, the Foreign Secretary had attended the UNGA more often than the Prime Minister. That was the practice of other countries as well. At the same time, the Prime Minister had been out and about this week focussing on domestic matters. For example, on Tuesday this week he had been at Waterloo Station to open the first section of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Today he had visited Bexley Business Academy for the formal opening of a stunning new building designed by Norman Foster in recognition of the fact that the Academy had made a huge difference in the lives of pupils in the area. It should be noted that the number of pupils with five good GCSEs had trebled this year. The Prime Minister’s speech this afternoon had contained a broad message that, "The bigger the challenge to achieve social justice, the bolder the reforms needed to reach that goal". The Prime Minister believed that this message applied not only to Bexley and education, but right across the public sector.
Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister would acknowledge that his focus on Iraq over the past year had inhibited progress on the domestic policy priorities, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had never lost sight of the need to deliver on the domestic agenda. That was why he had set up the Delivery Unit. At the first Prime Ministerial press conference after the summer recess, Michael Barber, the head of the Delivery Unit had outlined the progress which had been made so far. That said, the Prime Minister accepted that what people wanted to see was qualitative change in our public services - and he saw that as his primary duty to bring about. He believed that, as a result of investment and reform, we were beginning to see changes in health, education and other areas. However, he recognised the need to continue driving the process of reform and investment through, which was precisely what he was doing.
Lords Reform
Asked if the manifesto commitment to make the Lords more democratic had been dropped or whether further measures would be taken before the next election, the PMOS declined to get drawn into a discussion about timescales. He said that during the impasse between the two Houses in February, we had made it clear that while we continued to try to achieve a consensus on the ‘bigger picture’, we would take smaller steps wherever they could be taken. Today’s announcement was part of that process. Asked if it was likely that people from the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly would be appointed, the PMOS said that people should await the outcome of the consultation process. He was not going to get drawn into a speculative discussion about it.
Questioned about the retrospective aspect of the measures and why there appeared to be a distinction between Jeffrey Archer who had served a prison term for perjury and those MPs who had been found guilty of drink-driving offences in the same period for example, the PMOS said that he did not think it would be helpful to personalise the issue because to do so would be a bad way to make policy. It was important for there to be consistency between the two Houses. Today’s proposal ensured that that would be the case. Put to him that the only case for retrospection was personal, the PMOS said that that might be journalists’ interpretation of the issue. However, there was at present an inconsistency between the two Houses which the proposal today was addressing. Asked repeatedly if the proposal had been drawn up with Lord Archer in mind, the PMOS said that it had been drawn up with the inconsistency in mind, not a particular individual. Put to him that it had been drawn up to take attention away from the axing of the ninety two remaining hereditary peers, the PMOS noted the speculative mood of journalists today and said he thought that it was time to go.
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