Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Zimbabwe/Cricket, Civil Service strike, WMD/David Kelly, Tuition Fees and European Ministerial Trilateral.
Zimbabwe/Cricket
Asked to spell out the pros and cons of an England cricket team tour to Zimbabwe, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that it was a matter for the ECB. They had asked for objective advice from the Foreign Office and that would be given to them. After that, it would be up to them to make a decision. Asked if the Government was against the tour taking place, the PMOS said that the Foreign Office would give an objective assessment of the political and security situation, both of which had deteriorated over the past twelve months. As had been the case last year, however, it was ultimately up to the ECB to make up its own mind. Asked if the Prime Minister would be making his personal views known as he had last year, the PMOS said he didn’t think the Prime Minister had made his personal views known last year, and he doubted if he would do so this year.
Civil Service Strike
Asked for a reaction to the announcement today that Civil Servants in five Government Departments would be taking strike action next week, the PMOS said we did not believe that strikes were the answer to the problem. There was a substantive pay offer on the table and we believed that people should focus their attention on that rather than threats of industrial action. DWP were dealing with the matter.
WMD/David Kelly
Asked if Downing Street agreed with President Bush’s phraseology in speaking of "WMD programme-related activities" in his State of the Union Address last night, the PMOS said that if journalists read the sentence in full they would find that the President had actually been referring to the evidence that was contained in David Kay’s report. That was how it had been reported at the time. It should therefore not come as any surprise if the President referred to it in that way.
Asked about tonight’s Panorama programme which included an interview with Dr David Kelly before his death, the PMOS said that we would not be commenting on it. In our view it was better to wait until we received the Hutton Report. Asked if the Government had received any indication as to when the Report might be published, the PMOS said that it was entirely a matter for Lord Hutton to talk about timings. We had absolutely no intention of getting drawn into a speculative discussion about the issue.
Asked to set out the Prime Minister’s formal position on a wider inquiry into the circumstances leading to the war in Iraq, the PMOS said that there had been a series of reports on the war in Iraq, ranging from the FAC and ISC to the Hutton Inquiry. In the Prime Minister’s view, the issues had been properly aired.
Tuition Fees
Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about two reports which had focussed on the scale of student debt and whether they would make it more difficult for him to win the vote next week, the PMOS said that as the Prime Minister had pointed out earlier this week, the reality was that the proposals would make it easier than it was now for students to repay debt because the measures would set up a fair system which supported students as they learned but would allow them to pay back as they earned. It would also safeguard the position of those from poorer backgrounds and would enable students who went on to earn £20,000 a year for example, to pay back what they owed at half the rate they did now because they would repay it over a longer period. Pressed as to whether the Prime Minister was concerned that the evidence contained in the reports would make it more difficult for him to win the vote next week, the PMOS said the Prime Minister believed that it was important to face up to the reality of the position of students, in addition to the reality of under-funding in our universities. These were issues which we could not run away from and obviously had to address. Considered opinion recognised that the proposals we were putting forward were fair and balanced and provided a safeguard for students from poorer backgrounds - as well as providing much needed money for our universities.
European Ministerial Trilateral
Asked to confirm reports that ‘plans were afoot’ for the Foreign Secretary to meet more regularly with his French and German counterparts following a meeting they had had on Monday, the PMOS said that as he understood it, the meeting on Monday had been the latest in a series of regular trilaterals between them. Asked why we hadn’t flagged it up, the PMOS said that we didn’t brief on every single meeting that took place within Government. The one on Monday had been a routine meeting between Mr Straw and his French and German counterparts. There was nothing special about it and there was no reason to brief on it. Asked what had been discussed, the PMOS referred journalists to the FCO. Put to him that the FCO had declined to provide any detail, the PMOS said that Downing Street was not necessarily informed of every discussion that Ministers had, and nor should we be.
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