Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Istanbul Bombings, Rugby World Cup, President Bush, Buckingham Palace Security and Criminal Justice Bill.
Istanbul Bombings
Referring to the bomb attacks in Istanbul yesterday, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that, as the Prime Minister had told journalists yesterday, he sent his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government and people of Turkey. In particular, he sent his condolences to the families of the British Consul General, Roger Short, and his personal assistant Lisa Hallworth, who had been murdered in the attack.
The PMOS told journalists that Mr Short had been a dedicated diplomat. He had served his country with honour, dignity and distinction, as the genuine warmth of the tributes to him in the papers today made clear. He was a professional and this country was fortunate to have had him as our Consul General in Istanbul.
Asked if security had been tight enough at the British Consul given the fact that the US Consul had already pulled out of the area because of security concerns, and whether the UK was reviewing security arrangements at its other Embassies and Missions worldwide, the PMOS said that Istanbul had been on a high state of alert for some time. Given the devastation caused by yesterday’s attacks, it was important to give the Foreign Office a chance to assess the situation there. More generally, it went without saying that security at Embassies and Diplomatic Missions across the world was kept under constant review. As always, there was a balance to be struck between taking action when there was a security threat and recognising that terrorists wanted to bring an end to normality and disrupt relations between countries. No one was suggesting that this was an easy balance to achieve. Nevertheless, we were determined to do it. Questioned as to whether any specific intelligence had been received about terror attacks in Istanbul, the PMOS said that there had not been any specific intelligence about the attacks yesterday. However, as a result of general intelligence, people had been on a high state of alert.
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with the Foreign Secretary’s view that it was a myth to suggest that British interests in Istanbul had been targeted by Al Qaida because of the UK’s involvement in the war in Iraq, the PMOS said that both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary believed that you only had to look at pre and post September 11 to recognise the futility of the argument that somehow these attacks were a direct result of our intervention in Iraq. He reminded journalists that the UK had suffered significant casualties on September 11 2001. This meant that we had already been under attack way before the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.
Rugby World Cup
The PMOS informed journalists that the Prime Minister had sent, via Tessa Jowell, a letter to Francis Baron, Chief Executive of the Rugby Football Union, to wish the England team good luck for tomorrow. He had written, "This is just to wish the team every success on Saturday. It is a magnificent achievement to be in the World Cup final. The team have shown huge character". Asked why the Prime Minister had written to Mr Baron, the PMOS said that it was generally the proper thing to do to write to the appropriate people so that they could show the hand-written letter to the team. The letter should be taken in the spirit in which it had been written, i.e. the Prime Minister wanting to send his genuine good wishes to the team. Asked if the Prime Minister was intending to watch the match, the PMOS said yes.
President Bush
Asked what the Prime Minister believed had been achieved by President Bush’s visit to the UK, the PMOS said that it was a mistake to view visits like this one on a ’shopping list’ basis. The visit had allowed us, as a country, to stand back and recognise the importance of our relationship with the US, not just for historical and cultural reasons, but for the values that we shared as we faced both the opportunities and challenges of the modern world. Those common instincts had been illustrated in the President’s powerful speech at the Banqueting House on Wednesday - a speech in which he had set out a vision of the world. He had explained the argument again as to why we had taken the action we had taken in Iraq in particular, and had also focussed on the future of the Middle East, giving detailed proposals to try to help resolve the Israeli/Palestinian issue. That vision was one with which we were comfortable and, as such, would continue to work with the Americans, as well as our EU partners, in developing.
Asked if the Prime Minister would describe the US as our closest ally, in the same way President Bush had described the UK as America’s, the PMOS said the Prime Minister had always made it clear that our relationship with the US was special. Equally, he had underlined that he continued to believe firmly in the European relationship. As he had said in his Guildhall speech, he believed that those two relationships were the central pillars of British foreign policy, and it was therefore in this country’s national interest that we maintained them as closely as possible. Asked if the Prime Minister would describe our relationship with the US as ‘close’, the PMOS said that the President’s words had been very kind. We believed that they reflected the nature of the relationship on both sides.
Asked if the Prime Minister and President Bush had discussed the issue of European defence yesterday, the PMOS said that the two leaders had had a wide-ranging discussion on all aspects of foreign policy. However, he had no intention of getting drawn into providing a ‘tick list’ of what had and had not been discussed. Questioned as to whether ‘weighty’ issues would be discussed over lunch in Sedgefield today, the PMOS said that today would be a chance for the President to see a bit of the country outside London and observe what normal British life was about. No doubt the Prime Minister and President would take the opportunity to reflect on recent events, particularly the terrorist attacks in Istanbul yesterday. However, they would also want to talk about things. As we had been underlining all week, the President’s visit was part of a continuing conversation between the two leaders.
Buckingham Palace Security
Asked the Prime Minister’s view of the security incident at Buckingham Palace and the injunction which had been taken out against the Daily Mirror, the PMOS said that these were matters of the Palace to deal with, not him.
Criminal Justice Bill
Asked to confirm reports that the Prime Minister had stepped in to prevent a deal being made on the Criminal Justice Bill, the PMOS said that he wasn’t aware of such a thing. The Home Office had also made it clear that it was not aware of any grounds for such a claim. It was important for people to focus on what had been achieved as a result of the Criminal Justice Bill becoming law: tougher sentences for murder, increased sentences for dangerous sex and violent offenders, new five-year minimum sentences for firearm offences, longer sentences for dangerous drivers who killed, a crackdown on ‘bail-bandits’, strengthening the police in their fight against crime and terrorism, extending drug testing, giving police, prisons, probation victims etc a voice in sentencing, enhancing jury trials by ensuring that juries better reflected all sections of society. We had also pushed through the measure we had wanted on intimidation of juries. On the issue of fraud, we had established the need to address this issue very seriously and had taken the power to implement it by Affirmative Order. This was something which would be addressed in the first instance through discussions with the other parties.
Questioned about the use of ’specialist juries’ rather than have judge-only trials, the PMOS said that we would look at the other alternatives which existed, of which specialist juries was just one. We would also bring forward Law Commission recommendations which covered fraud. This would be done in the context of ongoing discussions with the other parties about the matter.
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