Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Reshuffle, Fox Hunting, Beslan School Siege, President Clinton and Northern Ireland
Reshuffle
Asked if there was a ’spare Cabinet pay packet’ available in the light of reports over the weekend and today, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) welcomed journalists back to a new school term but said that his position on responding to reshuffle questions had not changed over the summer recess. Asked if the Prime Minister was planning to make any changes to his Government today, the PMOS reiterated that he had absolutely no intention of responding to reshuffle questions, no matter how well (or badly) they were disguised.
Asked why the Prime Minister was so cross with the Foreign Secretary, as reports today had suggested, the PMOS said the Prime Minister believed that Mr Straw was an excellent Foreign Secretary with whom he had worked very closely in the run up to - and the achievement of - the European Constitution. Asked to explain today’s Telegraph claims, the PMOS said that he wasn’t a spokesman for the paper. Put to him that he was a spokesman for the Government, the PMOS acknowledged that was the case, but pointed out that if he were to give a running commentary on every single report that appeared in the media, he would be here all day.
Fox Hunting
Asked if the Prime Minister was prepared to risk losing key Bills in Parliament in order to see a Bill on fox hunting on the statute books by the end of this Parliamentary session, the PMOS said that it wasn’t his policy to answer hypothetical questions, as journalists were well aware. Asked why he was being so reticent this morning, the PMOS said that he wasn’t being deliberately obstructive. These were simply questions which journalists were well aware he was unable to answer since discussions about this matter were ongoing with Alun Michael. Once they had been concluded we would be able to talk about the issue in detail. Asked to outline the necessary sequence of events which would allow a ban on fox hunting onto the statue books before the end of the current session, the PMOS said that he appreciated the spirit in which the question had been asked. However, he was not going to give a running commentary on the process in advance of its conclusions. Asked if an announcement might be made tomorrow, the PMOS said that he had no intention of engaging in a speculative discussion about this matter. Suffice to say that the Prime Minister would be holding his monthly press conference tomorrow during which a wide range of subjects would no doubt be covered. Asked to remind journalists of the Prime Minister’s personal view on fox hunting, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had set it out on several occasions in the past. It would be very easy for people to go and look it up.
Beslan School Siege
Asked if the Prime Minister would be speaking to President Putin in the light of the horrific outcome of the school siege in Beslan, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had sent a note to the President on Friday in which he had said, "I have been closely watching the terrible developments in North Ossetia. It is hard to express my revulsion at the inhumanity of terrorists prepared to put children and their parents through such suffering. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, the families and friends of those killed, those injured and all of the Russian people at this time". Obviously the Prime Minister would want to speak personally to President Putin at some point. However, since Russia was taking part in two days of mourning, we recognised that now was not the appropriate time.
Asked to remind journalists of the Prime Minister’s position on the Chechnya issue, the PMOS said that this was a time for respecting the hurt and anguish in Russia. It would not be appropriate to get drawn into a discussion about political controversies while Russia mourned its dead.
Asked for a reaction to reports that Arabs had been among the hostage-takers, the PMOS said that this was a matter which was best left to the Russian authorities on the ground. No doubt it would take time for the situation to be clarified. In the meantime, as the Prime Minister had indicated in his letter on Friday, the important thing was to express our complete solidarity with the people of Russia who had suffered this terrible atrocity. Our thoughts were with them and we would neither say nor do anything which would detract from their grief in any way.
Questioned as to whether the UK might offer military support to Russia to help improve security, the PMOS said that as the Foreign Secretary had indicated on the Today Programme this morning, we stood ready to help if the Russian authorities believed we could do so in any way. However, he was not aware of any requests which had been made at this stage. Asked if the help being offered should be seen in the context of the Dutch Government’s demand on Russia to explain how the tragedy had been allowed to happen, the PMOS said no. We believed our assistance to be an appropriate response to a horrible atrocity which had been visited upon the Russian people. That was why we felt it was important to stress our solidarity with a government and with a people who had been the victims of such an appalling act. It was for others to respond in their own ways.
Asked if the British Government might re-examine the extradition orders for Chechen separatists which had been dismissed last year, the PMOS said that normal procedures had been followed, as you would expect. It would therefore be very wrong of him to pass comment on them.
Asked if the Prime Minister believed that the siege in Beslan and its terrible aftermath was a world-changing event, the PMOS said that, unfortunately, each event such as this was unique and horrible in its own right. Each one should therefore be judged by itself. Of course there were wider implications. However, at this particular time, it was important to mark the tragedy of those who had been killed and acknowledge the hurt and outrage felt in Russia before attempting to draw out any possible consequences for elsewhere. Asked if Downing Street agreed with the Foreign Secretary’s assessment this morning that the outrage was on a par with Nazism, the PMOS said the Foreign Secretary had been illustrating the point that the people who carried out such atrocities wanted to cause as many casualties as possible. In Beslan for example, they had clearly shown an utter disregard for the sanctity of human life which, as Mr Straw had been pointing out, was of a similar nature to that shown by previous regimes, such as Nazism.
President Clinton
Asked if the Prime Minister had been in touch with President Clinton following his heart problems which had been reported last week, the PMOS said that everyone was aware of the close friendship between the Prime Minister and President Clinton. However, this particular issue was a personal matter and he had no intention of briefing on any correspondence or contact between the two that might have taken place.
Northern Ireland
Asked if the prospects for an agreement on Northern Ireland had improved in recent days, the PMOS said that preliminary discussions had taken place at Stormont last week on which the parties would no doubt spend this week reflecting. The British and Irish Governments were in close contact both with the key players and with each other. In the meantime, preparations for the talks at Leeds Castle between 16 and 18 September were continuing. The Prime Minister remained of the view that a deal was there to be done which would address the key issues, namely an end to paramilitary activity, the decommissioning of weapons and a commitment to an inclusive Government in which all sides of the community would be involved. We believed it was possible for a deal to be done. However, it was obviously necessary to undertake all the hard work first before such a thing could happen. That was precisely what we were engaged in doing at this moment.
delicious
digg
facebook
