Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: PM/Lord Bragg, Iraq, Fox Hunting and Northern Ireland.
PM/Lord Bragg
Asked about Lord Bragg’s comment on the lunchtime news today regarding the Prime Minister’s supposed intention to resign in the summer, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that it had taken us by surprise as much as anyone else. He had nothing to add to what had already said about the matter when the story had first been reported in July. Asked if the Prime Minister stood by his reply to a question in his July press conference in which he had said that he had never had any thoughts about moving on, the PMOS said yes. Asked if the Prime Minister believed that Lord Bragg had been trying to be helpful, the PMOS said that he hadn’t asked the Prime Minister for his thoughts on this matter and he had no intention of doing so. Asked how well informed Lord Bragg was, the PMOS said that he wasn’t a spokesman for Lord Bragg. He didn’t know why the comment had been made. Asked to concede that Lord Bragg was a member of the Prime Minister’s social circle, the PMOS said that he had absolutely no intention of commenting on the friendships - or otherwise - of the Prime Minister in any way, shape or form. Asked if he would accept that it was difficult to know where to draw the line in terms of the Prime Minister’s right to privacy when a public figure, like Lord Bragg, was willing to talk openly about their friendship, the PMOS repeated that Lord Bragg’s remarks had come as a surprise to us. We were not going to comment on them.
Asked to confirm that Lord Bragg had spent Saturday night in the company of the Prime Minister and Mrs Blair, the PMOS said that he was not going to get drawn into a discussion about the cast list for what had been a private party. He repeated that Lord Bragg’s comments had come as a surprise to us. Put to him that spouting such a "weasel-word phrase" was not helpful as many things came as a surprise to us and yet we were happy to talk about them, the PMOS urged journalists to take his comment at face value. Put to him that his response was ‘deeply unsatisfactory’, the PMOS pointed out that it wasn’t his job to answer for another individual.
Asked if he would deny the account given in the Independent today which suggested that the Prime Minister had promised to go by the end of 2004 if the Chancellor and the Deputy Prime Minister helped him through the issue of tuition fees and the aftermath of the war in Iraq, the PMOS said that he hadn’t read the piece in question. As he had underlined time and again in response to such media reports, he didn’t recognise the descriptions being put forward. Asked if Downing Street agreed with Lord Bragg’s portrayal of the Prime Minister being under ‘colossal strain’, the PMOS repeated that Lord Bragg’s comments were a matter for Lord Bragg, not for us.
Asked to confirm reports that the Cabinet Secretary had drawn up a paper on how a voluntary resignation of a serving Prime Minister would be handled, the PMOS said that he didn’t recognise the suggestion.
Iraq
Asked for a reaction to today’s bomb attack in Iraq, the PMOS said that as we had made clear consistently from the outset, we recognised that such attacks would be stepped up in this period as terrorists tried to disrupt Iraq’s transition to a democracy. Prime Minister Allawi, who was leading the Iraqi Government and its response to the terrorism, had underlined his determination not to allow that transition to be thrown off course. That was a position which we fully supported. The PMOS added that Prime Minister Allawi was due to visit the UK shortly and journalists would be given an opportunity to hear his views for themselves.
Asked if Downing Street agreed with the head of the Iraqi Christian Church’s opinion that Iraq might be a safer place if Paul Bremer were to return, the PMOS pointed out that the comment had not actually been made by the head of the Iraqi Church.
Fox Hunting
Asked if the two-year delay to introducing a ban on fox hunting was the Government’s final word on the matter, the PMOS said that amendments to the Bill were a matter for individual MPs. He reminded journalists that there would be a free vote on both the substantive motion and the amendment.
Northern Ireland
Asked if the discovery of another listening device in an office belonging to Sinn Fein would have an impact on the talks at Leeds Castle which were due to begin on Thursday, the PMOS said that it wasn’t our practice to comment on such matters. The Leeds Castle talks related to issues which the Prime Minister had identified two years ago, namely decommissioning, an end to paramilitarism and a complete commitment to power-sharing in that environment.
delicious
digg
facebook
