Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Fox Hunting, Iraq/Al Qaida and Europe.
Fox Hunting
Asked about the comments on fox hunting made by the Leader of the House in the Commons today, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that she hadn’t seen them. Asked when an announcement would be made, the PMS said that she wasn’t aware of the timescale at this stage. If a date had been determined, no doubt the Leader of the House would have announced it.
Iraq/Al Qaida
Asked to which particular organisations she had been referring this morning when she had spoken about groups affiliated to Al Qaida operating in a permissive regime in Saddam’s Iraq, the PMS said that she did not have the precise details to hand. As she had told journalists this morning, we had always acknowledged that Saddam had created a permissive environment for terrorism and that he had tolerated groups affiliated to Al Qaida operating in Iraq during his regime. The Prime Minister had always made it clear that Iraq under Saddam had been a rogue state which threatened the security of the region and the world. Asked to present the evidence we had to back up that claim, the PMS said that this was nothing new. This was something we had said before. Put to her that the report from the independent Commission in the US investigation the September 11 attacks did not seem to support that position, the PMS said she was not suggesting that there was a direct link between Saddam and Al Qaida. She was simply making the point that his permissive regime allowed groups affiliated to Al Qaida to operate in Iraq. She said later that groups such as Zarqawi and Ansar al Islam had operated in the region.
Europe
Asked for a reaction to reports that Chris Patten was being considered as a candidate for the job of European Commission President, the PMS said that as her colleague had been telling journalists all week, these were private discussions which would be had by EU Heads of Government around the table in Brussels. That position had not changed.
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