Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Guantanamo Bay, Northern Ireland, Iraq Aid, Prime Minister and George Galloway.
Guantanamo Bay
In answer to questions about the Prime Minister’s comments regarding Guantanamo Bay during his press conference this morning, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the Prime Minister had simply been echoing what he had told the House at PMQs yesterday. Rather than engaging in speculation, it was important for people to allow the discussions between the Attorney General and the US to continue to take place. Asked what had happened to make the Prime Minister sound relatively optimistic that the situation would be resolved shortly, the PMOS repeated that discussions between the Attorney General and his American counterparts were ongoing. It would be pointless to pre-judge the outcome.
Northern Ireland
Asked for an update on Northern Ireland, the PMOS said that there were ongoing contacts by telephone about which he was unable to brief for obvious reasons. The position remained as had been set out yesterday, namely that there was an easily identifiable issue which had to be resolved, and that was precisely what we were looking to try to do. Asked to whom the Prime Minister had spoken personally, the PMOS said that he had talked to the SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, yesterday. Other conversations, at a variety of levels, had also taken, and were continuing, to take place.
Asked for a reaction to Ian Paisley’s assertion today that General de Chastelain had told him that the British and Irish Governments didn’t have any further information about the act of decommissioning than that which was already in the public domain, the PMOS pointed out that the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach had spoken to General de Chastelain for well over an hour on Tuesday. The details of the discussion, as you would expect, were confidential. That said, the Prime Minister had told journalists this morning that although he might not know all the details about the act of the decommissioning, he still had a better idea about it than the public.
Iraq Aid
Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister was planning to persuade other world leaders to cancel Iraq’s debt, the PMOS said that the Iraq donors’ conference was currently taking place in Madrid and that was where people should be focussing their attention at the moment. Anyone looking at the overall figures on aid to Iraq would be impressed by the level of commitment that the world was showing. Put to him that we were a long way away from wiping out Iraq’s £80bn debt, the PMOS said that Iraq was still in a better position today than it had been this time last year, or even six months ago. No one had ever said that change would happen overnight in Iraq. Nevertheless, it was clear that a transformation process was taking place.
Prime Minister
Asked if the Prime Minister would be having a medical check-up at some point following the events of Sunday, the PMOS said that he would be seeing a doctor again within the next two or three weeks, as was normal practice. However, as anyone who had seen him at this morning’s press conference would agree, he had been on good form and had performed as well, if not better, than he had previously. In answer to further questions about the Prime Minister’s health, the PMOS said that given the Prime Minister was completely recovered, he did not feel it was necessary to obtain a medical update on a daily or hourly basis.
George Galloway
In answer to questions about George Galloway’s expulsion today, the PMOS said that since this was a Party matter, Downing Street would not be commenting on it.
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