Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Tuition Fees, Hutton Report, Iraq/WMD, PM Speech and Philip Stephens’ Book.
Tuition Fees
In answer to questions, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the Prime Minister had been speaking to some parliamentary colleagues over the weekend, as you would expect. That dialogue was continuing with meetings with MPs in the House of Commons this afternoon for around ninety minutes. Questioned about those conversations, the PMOS said that it wasn’t his job to brief on political contacts. Suffice to say that the Prime Minister had put in - and was continuing to put in - a lot of effort to ensure that the Government’s legislation was carried tomorrow - as indeed were his Cabinet colleagues. We would have to wait and see how events unfolded. Asked how confident the Prime Minister was that the legislation would be carried tomorrow, the PMOS said that we hoped so, but we didn’t know so. As had been well documented, the Government had not had sufficient numbers last week. Many MPs had returned to their constituencies over the weekend and no doubt would have spoken to their constituents about this matter. They were returning to Westminster today. It was clearly too close to call and we did not think it would help anyone to start predicting anything. Asked to explain why it was too close to call given the Government’s large majority and the focus on the issue for the last four weeks non-stop, the PMOS said that as we had underlined from the outset, the Higher Education Bill had to be taken as a whole. Those issues which had people’s support, such as the abolition of upfront fees, had to be taken in the round with issues which might be less favoured by some, such as variability. The Bill came as package and would stand or fall as such. Ministers would continue to engage with colleagues to explain the totality of the legislation. It was important for people to understand that it meant abolishing upfront fees, more money for universities, more support for poorer students, widening access, a fair system of repayment and financial support while learning and repayment when earning. No one knew at the moment where we would be by tomorrow evening. However, one thing was for sure: the Government, from the Prime Minister down, was doing all it could to get the legislation through.
Asked for how much of the debate the Prime Minister was intending to stay tomorrow, the PMOS said that it wasn’t clear at this stage. Obviously this was an important piece of Government business. Asked if the Prime Minister would be in the Chamber for the opening statements, the PMOS said that journalists could assume so.
Asked if the Prime Minister remained confident that he would still be Prime Minister at the end of this week, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had answered the question on Newsnight last week. His position had not changed. Asked if the Prime Minister remained confident that he would still be Prime Minister at the end of the current Parliament, the PMOS said the Prime Minister had answered the question several times in recent press conferences. The answer to both questions was yes. The PMOS took the opportunity to say that - if people were referring to what had been written in some papers this morning - we had considered the Chancellor’s interview yesterday to have been very supportive and continued to see it as such, regardless of some of the overheated and overcooked interpretations of it by some quarters. Asked if the Prime Minister supported Lord Rooker’s appeal to the Chancellor to warn rebels that they would not be given a post in a future Government presided over by him, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor continued to work very closely together on this issue - and, indeed, on the whole Government agenda. He again underlined the fact that the Chancellor had been involved in the detail of the Bill from the outset because there were obviously a number of fiscal issues relating to it.
Asked if the Prime Minister accepted that the opposition from some MPs was not just about the Bill, the PMOS said that he had no intention of getting into a speculative discussion about the motives of some individuals. All he would say was that we hoped that when people came to vote, they would do so on the basis of the arguments and the merits of the piece of legislation in question. We hoped they would recognise that it was a very complex issue, but an important area of public policy, and that what the Government was proposing was fair and balanced. We would wait and see how things panned out tomorrow.
Asked if the issue of variability remained non-negotiable, the PMOS said that it was a very important component of the Bill. Charles Clarke had explained very clearly again yesterday why that was the case. Not every university was the same, and not every course within individual universities was the same. It was therefore important for universities to have the flexibility to price courses accordingly - for example an English course would not necessarily cost the same as a medical course. Mr Clarke would be setting out in a Written Statement the detail of what he had discussed in interviews yesterday.
Asked if the Government would bring the Bill back if the vote was lost tomorrow, the PMOS said that we were continuing to work hard to get the legislation onto the statute book. A vote on Second Reading would take place tomorrow. All the Government’s energy was going towards that purpose. Pressed further, the PMOS said that we were not in the business of engaging in hypothetical scenarios. We were working to ensure that the Bill received the necessary support. Put to him that we had said with Foundation Hospitals that we would continue reintroducing it until it was passed, the PMOS said that that was then, this was now.
Hutton Report
Asked if he was able to say at what time the Prime Minister’s Statement to the House on the Hutton Report would be made on Wednesday, the PMOS said not at this stage. As he understood it, the Hutton Inquiry would issue some further operational details at some point later in the day. Once that had happened, we would be able to say a little more. Asked if the Prime Minister would be taking part in PMQs on Wednesday, the PMOS said yes. Asked if the Opposition Leader would have to be escorted to the House given the ‘lock-in’ to which he would be subjected following his reading of the Hutton Report, the PMOS said that we had never characterised it as a ‘lock in’. The Leader of the Opposition would not be incarcerated. No doubt he would be in the Commons at midday on Wednesday, as usual.
Asked how many officials and members of the Government had received a personal letter from Lord Hutton in the last few days, the PMOS said that we had maintained consistently a silence in commenting on what Lord Hutton might or might not say in his Report. Equally, we had done so in terms of the processes of the Inquiry. He did not intend to break that ‘Trappist Vow’ at this particular juncture. Asked to describe the Government’s plans once it had received a copy of the Report tomorrow, the PMOS said that we would receive a copy, read it and respond to it. He had absolutely no intention of entering into some big process discussion about it.
Asked to confirm reports that Alastair Campbell would be returning to Downing Street for a few days to assist the Government over the period, who would pay his salary and whether he would be given executive powers to give orders to Civil Servants, the PMOS said that Mr Campbell had left his employment by the Government. That said, everyone recognised that he was integral to this issue. Pressed as to whether Mr Campbell would be put back on the pay roll, the PMOS said no. He appreciated that the media had to find space fillers between now and the publication of the Report. However, he was not going to enter into a processological discussion to help them do so. Asked if Mr Campbell was still considered part of the Government in the sense that he had been represented by Government’s Counsel during the Inquiry, and whether it meant that he would see the Report in advance, the PMOS said that he was not going to get into who was and was not entitled to see copies of the Report and when. He was sorry if that was an inconvenience, but that was the way things were. Asked if the Cabinet was due to meet in advance of the Report’s publication, the PMOS said no.
Iraq/WMD
Asked if the Prime Minister continued to believe in the existence of WMD, despite David Kay’s comments over the weekend, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister’s views, as stated most recently in the Observer this Sunday which had predated Dr Kay’s resignation, remained the same. Asked if the Prime Minister had any plans to meet Dr Kay, the PMOS said not as far as he was aware.
Asked if a progress report on the work of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) was expected at any point, the PMOS reminded journalists that the ISG had already published an interim report. As had been made clear, what had already been found would have been in breach of Resolution 1441, which, for anyone who needed reminding, had talked about ’serious consequences’ to follow. He didn’t know when the ISG’s final report would be published.
Put to him that it was odd that the Government was not rebutting Dr Kay’s comments and engaging on the issue, the PMOS pointed out that the Foreign Secretary had stated the Government’s view in his robust exchange with John Humphreys on the Today Programme his morning. No one could accuse the Government of not answering the questions.
Asked if there were any plans for a review of the accuracy and efficiency of the UK’s intelligence services, the PMOS said that there was nothing he could point to. On the intelligence, he drew journalists’ attention to the Prime Minister’s Observer interview in which he had said, "I do believe that the intelligence was correct, and I think, in the end, we will have an explanation".
PM Speech
Asked for further detail about the Prime Minister’s speech on the ‘domestic agenda’ on Thursday, the PMOS said that it would be about public services. Asked why he was making a speech this week, the PMOS said that it was because he was the Prime Minister and the public service agenda was obviously pretty integral to the Government’s policies. It should be seen as part of the ongoing narrative about public service reform. The speaking engagement had been in the diary for some time.
Philip Stephens’ Book
Asked if the Prime Minister believed that President Chirac had been ‘out to get him’, as the latest biography of the Prime Minister appeared to suggest, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister and the President enjoyed a very good relationship. They would be meeting again in February, and no doubt at other times during this year’s celebrations of the Entente Cordial. It was not the Government’s policy to do book reviews. All he would say was that we had big enough bones to be chewing on this week without getting into retrospective commentary on past events. Mr Stephens had his book coming out. We had the tuition fees vote and the Hutton Report. That was where we were focussed.
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