Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Prime Minister.
Prime Minister
Asked what other meetings the Prime Minister had had today, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that he had met the Deputy Prime Minister and also the Foreign Secretary prior to his Statement in the House this afternoon, as well as meeting backbenchers. He had also spoken to the Taoiseach. The atmosphere around the discussions between the parties continued to remain positive, although the work was not yet completed. Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister might travel to Northern Ireland this week, the PMOS said it went without saying that the Prime Minister stood ready to do whatever he could to help move the peace process forward, including talking to whoever it was thought to be necessary to talk to. Northern Ireland had always been a priority for him. However, our policy on Prime Ministerial visits to Northern Ireland had not changed inasmuch as we did not brief on them in advance.
Asked if the Prime Minister had been given an anaesthetic yesterday, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had been sedated for the treatment he had received, but had not been given an anaesthetic. The difference between sedation and anaesthesia was one for medics to clarify, although as he understood it one factor related to whether the patient was able to breathe aided or unaided. Asked if he had had an operation, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had received an episode of treatment for an episode of an irregular heartbeat. He had not had an operation. Asked if the Prime Minister had lost consciousness during his treatment, the PMOS said that he would have been out for a very short time as a result of the sedation. He had walked into the Hammersmith Hospital and had walked out again.
Asked if the Prime Minister had had a meeting with John Scarlett today, the PMOS said no. Questioned as to why Nigella Lawson had visited Downing Street today, the PMOS said that she had not been meeting the Prime Minister or Mrs Blair. Nor did her visit have anything to do with the events of yesterday.
Asked if the Prime Minister’s non-appearance in the Commons today was the only alteration to his diary, the PMOS said yes. As we had said this morning, he had still had a number of internal meetings. It was clear he was not at full throttle today inasmuch as he wasn’t delivering the Statement to the House and hadn’t had to spend time preparing for it. However, he would be back at full throttle from tomorrow. Asked why the Prime Minister hadn’t taken the day off, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had been told to take it a little easy today, which was what he had been doing. Asked if he was implying that it would be ‘business as usual’ from tomorrow, the PMOS said yes. Apart from not making a Statement in the Commons, he had continued to have meetings today. Tomorrow he would fulfil all the engagements he was scheduled to fulfil in the same way he would have done had he not spent part of yesterday in hospital.
Questioned as to whether the condition from which the Prime Minister had suffered yesterday was a condition in its own right or a symptom of something else, the PMOS said it was the former. He drew journalists’ attention to the statement we had issued yesterday in which we had pointed out that the treatment administered to the Prime Minister was to regulate an irregular heartbeat. This was a relatively common condition and the Prime Minister had suffered no damage. He was fine and there was no reason why it should reoccur. A number of medical experts had said today that the reasons for the condition were many and varied. It was just one of those things. The Prime Minister was fit and well today. Asked if he would accept that one reason could be the amount of stress the Prime Minister was under, the PMOS said that he was not a doctor. Put to him that everyone would agree he certainly wasn’t that sort of doctor, the PMOS replied that he wasn’t the other sort of doctor being referred to either.
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