Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Hutton Report, Iraq/WMD and Tuition Fees.
Hutton Report
In answer to questions about the media handling for the Hutton Report, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) confirmed that it was a matter for Lord Hutton. The decision was for him to take, not the Government.
Iraq/WMD
Asked the Prime Minister’s view on the chances of finding WMD in Iraq, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had answered the question yesterday in his interview with Sir David Frost. It was important to wait for the Iraq Survey Group’s (ISG) report. Their work was continuing. As the ISG’s interim report showed, what they had already discovered would have been in breach of Resolution 1441 - for example, a clandestine network of laboratories and safehouses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service that contained equipment subject to UN monitoring and suitable for continuing CBW research, none of which had been declared; a vial of botulinum; Iraqi scientists and senior government officials had told the ISG that Saddam remained firmly committed to acquiring nuclear weapons; nuclear centrifuge components and other equipment had been hidden in a scientist’s garden, and so on. Asked when the ISG’s final report would be published, the PMOS said that a date had not been set at this stage. Their work was continuing.
Put to him that he sounded more confident than the Prime Minister had yesterday over the issue of WMD, the PMOS said that the position had not changed since yesterday. He was simply making the point that it was important to wait for the ISG’s final report. However, it was worth repeating that what the ISG had already found would have been in breach of Resolution 1441 which, as journalists were well aware, had underlined the ’serious consequences’ which would follow were Saddam to ignore his international obligations. This fact was often overlooked. Put to him that the Prime Minister’s comments yesterday had been widely interpreted as a ‘roll back’ from his initial position on finding WMD, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister’s words on this subject had been pretty consistent over recent weeks and months.
Asked if it mattered any more whether WMD were found or not in the light of what the ISG had already discovered, the PMOS said that he was simply underlining that what the ISG’s interim report had shown would, of itself, have been a breach of Resolution 1441. The reason why we had engaged in a military conflict was because of Saddam’s violation of UN Resolutions through the years. Of course the issue of WMD was important and significant, and no one was pretending otherwise.
Put to him that during his Frost interview yesterday, the Prime Minister had used body language and ‘wrinkled his nose’ as if to deny that he had moved his ground in terms of the distinction being made between WMD and WMD programmes, the PMOS said that he wasn’t Desmond Morris - he was the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman, and he hadn’t spent his time yesterday scrutinising the interview for crucial facial signals. He had been listening to what the Prime Minister had said. Put to him that the Prime Minister’s comment yesterday that, "In a land mass twice the size of the UK it may well not be surprising that you don’t find where this stuff is hidden" was the first time that he had expressed doubts that WMD might not be found, the PMOS pointed out that the Prime Minister’s next sentence had been that we would have to wait for the ISG report and see how things panned out.
Asked exactly how important we now considered it to be to find WMD in Iraq, the PMOS said that of course it remained an important issue. As the Prime Minister had spelled out yesterday, he believed that it would have been wrong not to have taken action in the light of the intelligence that he had received. We knew that Saddam had had WMD because he had used them on his own people. We also knew that he had defied the international community on WMD for twelve/thirteen years. The ISG’s work was ongoing and people had to be patient until it concluded.
Asked about the four hundred personnel who had been recalled from Iraq, the PMOS said that these people belonged to the Joint Captured Material Exploitation Group whose job, according to the Pentagon, had been to "scavenge the battlefield for military equipment". It had not been their job to seek out WMD. That was the ISG’s role.
Asked if the Prime Minister continued to believe that Saddam’s WMD programme had been active and ongoing in the months before the war, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister stood by what he had said. It was important for people to exercise a little patience and wait for the ISG report. Put to him that what the Prime Minister was saying now appeared to be different to what he had said at the time of the conflict, the PMOS said that, for the avoidance of any doubt, he was not attempting to rewrite the Attorney General’s legal basis for military action. He thought journalists knew that.
Tuition Fees
Asked about reports of a confidence vote were the Higher Education Bill to be lost on Second Reading, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had been asked the same question yesterday by Sir David Frost and had answered it. His words spoke for themselves. We were not contemplating defeat. We were working to get the legislation through. We recognised that there would be a lot of discussion, engagement and dialogue on this issue with MPs over the coming days and weeks. Asked if the Prime Minister was planning to meet with Nick Brown, the PMOS confirmed that the Prime Minister would be seeing some of his parliamentary colleagues in the coming period. However, we had no intention of giving a running commentary on who and when.
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