Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Reshuffle, PM and Terrorist Attack/Jakarta.
Reshuffle
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) informed journalists that the Cabinet reshuffle had been completed last night. We hoped to be in a position to brief on Ministerial appointments at some point this afternoon once all the details had been finalised. Asked if journalists should expect a wide-ranging ministerial reshuffle, the PMOS said he thought the changes would be relatively small in number. Asked if the delay in announcing the new Ministerial appointments was because there was a row going on, the PMOS said no. He pointed out that the Prime Minister had a full diary today, in addition to which it was sometimes difficult to track down the people to whom he wished to speak. This was no great conspiracy. It was simply a matter of the usual conflict between media deadlines and the reality of life in Government.
Asked where Alan Milburn would be based and whether Civil Servants would be answerable to him, the PMOS said that staffing arrangements for the new Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster were still being worked out. His role was to head up the Policy Unit and Strategy Unit. He would also oversee the development of policy. As such, he would be based in the Cabinet Office and would also have an office in No 10. Asked the point of having two offices in such close proximity, the PMOS pointed out that not all of the Strategy Unit and Policy Unit were based in No 10. Some offices were located in the Cabinet Office. It was therefore important for Mr Milburn to have two workplaces so as to be able to carry out his oversight role effectively. Asked if the entire Cabinet was united behind the appointment of Mr Milburn, the PMOS said that the Cabinet was united behind the Government’s policies and acted as a collective entity under the leadership of the Prime Minister.
Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to Mr Milburn’s partner personally to help try to persuade him to accept his new job, the PMOS said that it wasn’t our practice to brief on the Prime Minister’s personal discussions with others. However, that was not to confirm one way or the other if he had spoken to Mr Milburn’s partner.
Asked when the Prime Minister had informed the Chancellor of the precise details of Mr Milburn’s new role, the PMOS repeated that he had no intention of briefing on private conversations between the Prime Minister and others. Asked if Douglas Alexander had been told before the announcement was made that he would be losing the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the PMOS said that journalists could safely assume that all the usual courtesies would have been observed.
Asked to describe the level of difficulty the Prime Minister had experienced in carrying out his latest reshuffle, the PMOS said that reshuffles were always surrounded by speculation and judged against the soap opera of Westminster Village life. However, as the Prime Minister had said in his press conference on Tuesday, he believed that the public was more interested in what the Government actually did. He was determined that the Government would continue to develop and implement the policies which would address public needs right across the piece. The PMOS added that the Prime Minister had expressed his personal thanks in Cabinet this morning for the work that Andrew Smith had done at DWP.
PM
Asked for a reaction to a report in today’s Times suggesting that the Prime Minister had considered pre-announcing in the summer that he would step down before the next election but had been stopped from doing so by the Chancellor, the PMOS said that as we had told journalists when the story had first emerged in July, we did not recognise it. That remained the case. He had nothing further to say about it. Put to him that the story had moved on since then inasmuch as it had been reported that the Chancellor had talked the Prime Minister out of his planned pre-announcement, the PMOS repeated that he did not recognise the story. Asked if he was referring to the July story or today’s story, the PMOS said that there was a common thread linking the two which he did not recognise. Put to him that he had not denied today’s story, the PMOS said that he had answered the question in his own way. He had nothing further to add.
Terrorist Attack/Jakarta
The PMOS took the opportunity to express the Government’s utter condemnation of today’s bomb attack on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. It was a further demonstration that terrorists were prepared to use indiscriminate violence and show a complete disrespect for human life. Our condolences were with the Governments of Australia and Indonesia, as well as with the families of those who had been killed.
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