Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Staff Changes, Quad Bikes/Ozzy Osbourne, European Constitution and Iraq.
Staff Changes
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) drew journalists’ attention to a press notice which had been released by Morgan Stanley this morning announcing that Jeremy Heywood, the Prime Minister’s Principal Private Secretary, would be joining the firm in the New Year. He had served the Government with great distinction for twenty years and had made a huge contribution to Downing Street. The Prime Minister was extremely grateful for all he had done and obviously wished him well in his new career. Mr Heywood was being replaced by Ivan Rogers as Principal Private Secretary. Mr Rogers was currently Director of Budget and Public Finances at the Treasury. Prior to that, he had been Director of Europe at HMT. Other jobs in the past included Chief of Staff to Sir Leon Brittan when he had been Vice President of the European Commission, Team Leader of the Spending Directorate at the Treasury and Private Secretary to Ken Clarke when he had been Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had begun his Civil Service career at the then DHSS. His first postings had been in that Department. He was someone who clearly came with a first class reputation and who had operated at a very senior level. Mr Rogers would begin his new job before Christmas. Mr Heywood would leave his current job at Christmas and would start his new career at Morgan Stanley some time in the Spring. In answer to questions, the PMOS said that Mr Rogers was 43 and had been to Oxford.
Quad Bikes/Ozzy Osbourne
Asked if Alun Michael’s publication today of a consultation document on mechanically prepared vehicles, such as quad bikes and 4×4s, was a result of Ozzy Osborne’s accident yesterday, the PMOS said that the timing was purely coincidental. The document dealt with the issue of these vehicles being used on footpaths, as he understood it. Obviously we sent Mr Osbourne our very best wishes.
European Constitution
Asked if the Prime Minister endorsed Denis MacShane’s view that the European Constitution should be ratified this week even if it was not 100% perfect, the PMOS said he did not think that that was precisely what Dr MacShane had said. The Government was approaching this matter from the perspective that a deal could be done at the European Council in Brussels at the end of this week. However, we had our red lines which were well known to our European partners. It went without saying that we would not sign up to anything that we did not believe to be in the British interest. Put to him that Dr MacShane had stated specifically that the Constitution should be ratified this week, even if it was not 100%, the PMOS said that of course we wanted a deal this week. Whether that was achievable would depend on the negotiations that were taking place. As the Foreign Secretary had said in his Guardian interview yesterday, with these things it was impossible to know in advance whether things would coalesce until you were at that point. Obviously we were not there yet. It was clear that there were some knotty issues, such as vote re-weighting. These were not just issues for the UK. We would have to wait and see whether everything would be resolved this weekend. Asked if there would be any benefit in prolonging the process, the PMOS repeated that we would have to wait and see whether there was agreement at Brussels. Asked if he was implying that the negotiations could be extended if it was thought to be necessary, the PMOS reiterated the point that we would not sign up to anything that crossed our red lines or that wasn’t in Britain’s interest. Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Dr MacShane’s view that there was no benefit to prolonging the negotiations, the PMOS said that it was important to look at the totality of Dr MacShane’s comments, not random extracts. We were approaching this issue constructively, as indeed we believed other countries were doing. Whether things would come together in time for everything to be ratified at Brussels at the weekend was impossible to predict. Pressed as to whether the Prime Minister agreed with Dr MacShane’s view that there was no benefit in prolonging the negotiations, the PMOS said that he had already answered the question several times. Asked for a yes or no answer, the PMOS said that he couldn’t be any clearer. Put to him that he could, the PMOS explained again that we were approaching this issue with a view to securing agreement, if agreement was possible. However, that did not depend solely on the UK since we were only one of twenty-five. He didn’t have a crystal ball to predict everything that was going to happen between now and the weekend. We would have to wait and see how things panned out. We had our red lines. Everyone knew where we stood on the issues of importance to the UK Government. We acknowledged that there were some big issues that had still to be resolved. Challenged that Mr Straw’s view that we might not sign up to the Constitution this week contrasted sharply with the view of Dr MacShane who had said that we should sign up this week even if it wasn’t 100% perfect, the PMOS repeated that the British Government was obviously not going to sign up to anything which it believed was not in the country’s interest. We would have to wait and see what happened in Brussels at the weekend. There wasn’t too long to wait.
Asked to verify reports that the Prime Minister, Chancellor Schroeder and President Chirac would meet up this week prior to the European Council, the PMOS said that a meeting was not impossible. In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that it wouldn’t be the first time that European leaders had taken the opportunity to meet informally in advance of - or indeed at - a European Council. Asked if the meeting would be in Brussels if it were to take place, the PMOS said yes.
Iraq
Asked for the Prime Minister’s reaction to Japan’s decision to send troops to Iraq and whether he had been in contact with the Japanese Prime Minister, the PMOS said that the two Prime Ministers had not spoken in recent days, as far as he was aware. Obviously we welcomed the support that other countries were giving to the Coalition and the Iraqi people - and in particular the strong signal that Japan was sending following the murders of two Japanese diplomats last month. Today’s announcement showed that countries would not be bombed and intimidated out of doing right by the Iraqi people.
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