Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: the Hutton Report.
Hutton Report
Asked how the Government intended to handle the publication of the Hutton Report following this afternoon’s announcement that it would be published on 28 January, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) confirmed that the Prime Minister would make a Statement to the House on that day and would lead the debate on the issue whenever that debate was scheduled to take place. Asked when that might be, the PMOS said that the details would be announced in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time. Asked if there would be a vote on a substantive Motion at the end of the debate, the PMOS repeated that the details would be dealt with in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time.
Asked if the Government had had any input into the timing of the Report given the fact that it would take place a day after the vote on tuition fees, the PMOS said that the vote on tuition fees would take place on 27 January. The timing of the Hutton Report was entirely a matter for Lord Hutton. Asked if Downing Street was concerned that the Report would be published only 24 hours after the vote on tuition fees, the PMOS repeated that the timing of the Report was entirely a matter for Lord Hutton, as was how he chose to present it. Asked if anyone in Downing Street had made any representations to Lord Hutton about when might be an appropriate time to publish the Report, the PMOS said that it was for Lord Hutton to talk about any contacts he might have had with the parties - although of course that was not to signal anything one way or the other.
Put to him that we had said last week that we would wait for the Report’s publication before confirming whether the Prime Minister would lead the debate, the PMOS said that he would disagree. We had said that we would make it clear at the appropriate time. This was clearly the appropriate time. We had just heard today when the Report would be published, hence the announcement that the Prime Minister would lead the debate on it. Further details would be issued at a later time. Asked if he was really saying that the Government had gone through a week of negative headlines merely to sustain a process point, the PMOS said that as we had underlined from the outset, we were absolutely determined to handle this issue in the appropriate way. That remained our guiding principle, both pre and post publication.
Asked if it was up to the Government to decide whether the Opposition parties - and journalists - could be given copies of the Report in advance, the PMOS said that it was up to Lord Hutton to choose how to present his Report publicly. While it was not up to the Government to decide how journalists should receive it, it was, however, a matter for Government to decide when the Opposition received copies. We would be releasing further details about this in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time. Put to him that it was surely a matter for the Government to decide how anyone received the Report because the Hutton Inquiry was a Government-appointment Inquiry which ultimately it reported to the Government - in addition to which the Department for Constitutional Affairs Press Office had been handling all the media enquiries, the PMOS said that it was up to Lord Hutton to choose what to write in his Report and how to present it. However, on the grounds of parliamentary accountability, it was up to the Government to decide how the Opposition parties would receive it, the details of which would be announced in due course. Asked how much notification the Opposition parties might get, the PMOS said that since we had only heard in the last hour that the Report would be published on 28 January, it was important for people to exercise a little patience and take things step by step. Asked if he was implying that Downing Street had only heard within the last hour, the PMOS said he had simply been making the point that the date had only just been made public. He had absolutely no intention of getting drawn into a debate about contacts between No 10 and Lord Hutton. Put to him that the Government was setting itself up for more negative headlines over this point, the PMOS said that from the outset we had been motivated by one thing, and one thing alone - to handle the issue properly and not to prejudge the outcome. We remained committed to that principle. If journalists wished to engage in speculation, that was entirely a matter for them. Put to him that the media had been right to predict that the Government would get ‘hammered’ over its refusal to confirm whether the Prime Minister would lead the debate on the Report in the House and that someone was clearly being very ’stupid’ by putting the Government into exactly the same position today, the PMOS said that he couldn’t take responsibility for what journalists wrote. All he would ask was for people to exercise a little patience and let announcements be made in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time. Asked repeatedly to explain what ‘the appropriate way’ meant, the PMOS said that he had no intention of getting drawn into a discussion about processology. The important thing was to focus on the content of the Report. As had been announced this afternoon, it would be published on 28 January. We had no intention of pre-judging it. In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that the position would be made clear in plenty of time before the 28th, but in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time. The detail would become clear in due course.
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with the Leader of the House’s comment in the Chamber last week when he had criticised the handling of the Scott Report in 1996, the PMOS said that he was not going to get drawn into comparisons. He was trying to deal with the Hutton Report in as straightforward a manner as possible. Asked if he was unable to provide any further information because decisions had not yet been taken, the PMOS repeated that we would make known the decisions that had been reached in the proper way. Simply because journalists wanted to know the answer this afternoon was not a legitimate reason to make any premature announcements. Nor would doing such a thing change the factual position one iota on the day that it mattered.
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