Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: John Reid/Smoking, PM/Dentist, Postal Ballots, Prime Minister/Interviews and President Reagan.
John Reid/Smoking
Asked again if the Government endorsed John Reid’s remarks on smoking, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that she had dealt with this issue at great length at this morning’s briefing and she did not think there was any real point in going through it all again. Briefly, Dr Reid had been expressing a view. A consultation exercise on smoking and public health was currently ongoing. We wanted people to debate these issues and we wanted to hear their views. She advised journalists to actually read Dr Reid’s comments, rather than base their questions on media interpretations.Put to her that the criticisms of Dr Reid related to the fact that he had described smoking as a "pleasure", the PMS said that Dr Reid had been reflecting a view that some people actually enjoyed smoking - something that should not come as a surprise to anyone.
PM/Dentist
Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister had an NHS dentist, the PMS later informed journalists that he did.
Postal Ballots
Asked if the Government would be judging the success of the postal ballot pilots purely on the question of turnout or on the level of fraud, the PMS said that as she had told journalists this morning, postal ballot pilots which had been run in the past had shown no greater evidence of fraud than in the more traditional ways of voting. It went without saying that the Government would condemn absolutely anyone behaving fraudulently or attempting to influence the way in which people voted. The idea of a postal vote was to try to encourage greater voter participation. There were four pilots in these elections, the results of which would be evaluated afterwards. This would include examining the level of fraud that had taken place. Asked if the idea of postal ballots would be abandoned if the level of fraud was found to be high, the PMS said that it was pointless to debate hypothetical scenarios at this stage. The elections were tomorrow. People should exercise a little patience and wait for the results. The allegations which had already been raised were being investigated, as you would expect. She reminded journalists that offences relating to personation carried a penalty of up to two years in prison. These things were clearly taken very seriously. Asked if the Government’s aim was to have an all-postal ballot at a future General Election, the PMS said she was not aware of any plans to take the idea forward to that degree at this stage. At the moment, we were looking at ways to encourage people to participate in the electoral system.
Prime Minister/Interviews
Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister had anything against being interviewed John Humphrys in the light of the Leader of the Opposition’s comments on the Today Programme this morning, and whether he would submit to being interviewed by Mr Humphrys in the future, the PMS said that she was unable to rule anything in or out. She pointed out that the Prime Minister had been interviewed by the Today Programme yesterday. Put to her that he had been interviewed by Jim Naughtie in a pre-record the day before (Monday afternoon), the PMS pointed out that that was because the Prime Minister had been due to depart for the G8 Summit in Georgia yesterday morning. She underlined that we were not in the business of ruling out any interview with any particular individual.
Put to her repeatedly that the Prime Minister had not been interviewed by Mr Humphrys for many years for reasons which were clearly apparent to many, the PMS said that the media might not like the facts, but the truth of the matter was that we were not in the business of ruling out an interview with anybody. She pointed out that there were lots of other people who had not interviewed the Prime Minister over the last few years. Challenged that he only ever seemed to be interviewed by the "herbivores" rather than the "carnivores", the PMS said that she really had nothing further to add to what she had already said about this matter.
President Reagan
Asked if the Prime Minister would be attending President Reagan’s funeral on Friday, the PMS said yes. Buckingham Palace had also announced today that the Prince of Wales would be attending on behalf of HM Queen.
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