Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: G8 Summit, European Union, Director of Communications, Housing, Lord Stevens, Czech PM, French Charity and BBC Strike.
G8 Summit
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) outlined details of the Prime Minister’s schedule ahead of the G8 Summit. On Friday he would travel to Rome for talks with Prime Minister Berlusconi. This would cover the EU agenda but the primary focus of this, and the other visits in the next few weeks would be intensifying the efforts to secure progress on Africa and Climate Change at the Summit in Gleneagles. Between now and Gleneagles the Prime Minister would also visit President Putin in Moscow, President Bush in Washington DC and he would also meet with President Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder during the first half of June, if possible. There were not exact timings at the stage. He would also speak via videoconference to Prime Minister Koizumi, of Japan and Prime Minister Martin, of Canada. We had deliberately set out an ambitious agenda for the G8 and now was the time for real negotiations. We were in detailed discussions which we would not provide a running commentary of, but the important point was that no one in the G8 disputed that Africa and Climate Change must be the priorities. We believed at this stage we were making progress and that we could fulfil our ambitions but we still had some way to go. We would start that process in Rome on Friday.
Asked if it was right that the Italians currently were opposed to the International Finance Facility (IFF) for Africa and whether there was a DfID announcement expected this week the PMOS said that he was not aware of announcement from DfID but would check on it. In terms of the various countries positions the PMOS stressed that this was a proper negotiation and when you were driving a proper negotiation it was generally counter productive to comment on the position of other countries. People would not take up final positions at this stage. The other point to make was that there was a rolling on process this year in terms of these two issues with the UN Millenium Summit in the autumn and the WTO meeting in Hong Kong, in December. This was all about achieving progress throughout the year, but obviously the G8 Summit was a major point in that process and we would be going for it in every way.
Asked if there would be a news conference in Rome the PMOS said that he anticipated that there would be. Friday was also Africa Day in Rome so there would also be a series of events there, some of which the Prime Minister would be involved in, in some way.
European Union
Asked if there were any thoughts on the Government’s response to the French referendum the PMOS said yes, we should let it happen first and then respond. Then we would respond in the appropriate way. Asked what the British position was on the abatement the PMOS said that it had already been set out by himself, and more importantly by the Chancellor and the Foreign Secretary. We believed that the abatement was fully justified. We had set out the arguments why and that was the important thing that people needed to engage with. Those arguments remained as we had set out. Asked if we had any objections to the calculations or amount being changed in anyway the PMOS said that we believed that it was wholly justified and that remained our position. Others would put a counter case, but in the end we had to agree and we believed it was wholly justified. Asked if the current value was a red line the PMOS reiterated that we believed it was wholly justified, others would put forward whatever arguments they wanted but they had to address the basics of our argument. It was not a macho stance. It was an argument based on economics and that remained the case.
Asked why we had not yet used the phrase "wholly justified and non negotiable" as used by the Chancellor the PMOS said, as he had last week when asked, that the position of ourselves the Treasury and the Foreign Office was exactly the same and what people should address was the substance of the argument rather than playing word games. The substance of the argument was, as set out by the Chancellor yesterday, as the Foreign Secretary had set out, and as The Prime Minister had set out. The reason why we had the position we had was because of the balance of financing and funding within Europe. It was not a macho position. It was an economic argument and the Prime Minister was happy to set that out when discussing it with anybody. This was not about playing word games. It was about the basic case, which was that it was wholly justified and anyone who wanted to argue with that had to address our basic argument. It was important that people understood that it was because of the balance of funding coming out of EU agricultural policy and because of the balance coming out of EU structural funding that we had the rebate. That case remained and it was wholly justified.
Asked if the British Government achieved its aim in terms of CAP reform would it be justified to negotiate on that agreement the PMOS said that the position was that we were not dealing with ifs, we were dealing with the present situation, as such we should deal with that alone. In response to the suggestion that the Chancellor had dealt with just such an issue the PMOS said that he had read the Chancellor’s transcript and the position was, as set out. The Chancellor had been dealing with the factual case and not with hypotheticals. It was not about word games it was about that factual case that those who opposed it had to address that and everyone should deal with the reality.
Director of Communications
Asked if the Prime Minister was inviting someone new to be the Director of Communications at Downing Street the PMOS said that we had announced last week that David Hill was staying in his present position as Director of Communications and that remained the case. If there were any future announcements about other posts to be made they would be made in the future.
Housing
Asked whether the Prime Minister thought it was a good time to put taxpayers money into the property market the PMOS said that the Prime Minister was many thing but he was not a mortgage adviser. The Prime Minister believed, as he had said many times, that it was right that we did everything we could to encourage people to get their first homes. For details of what the Chancellor said people should speak to the Treasury.
Lord Stevens
Asked what were the Prime Minister’s views on Lord Stevens comments yesterday the PMOS said that where we agreed totally was that there was an agenda there to be addressed which was why the Prime Minister had addressed the issue in his way since the General Election. We were already doing a lot and a lot of things that Lord Stevens mentioned were already covered by ASBOs for instance. Therefore it was a question of continuing the dialogue. As the Prime Minister had said this was not an issue which the Government alone could resolve, but the Government could and would give a strong lead.
Czech PM
Asked what was on the agenda for the meeting with the Czech PM the PMOS said the talks would go wherever the discussion went, but clearly and obviously it would include the current state of the EU and other European issues.
French Charity
Asked if the Prime Minister welcomed a French Charity doing NHS work in the East End the PMOS said that what was important was that people recognise how much work was already being done in the East End in terms of Health Services. State-of-the-art ’super surgeries’ were opening in some of the country’s most deprived areas, including in Barking and Newham in London. New NHS walk-in centres were there as well. In terms of the charity it was free to decide for itself where it provides its services. The NHS would work with them.
BBC Strike
Asked about the Prime Minister’s view of the BBC strike the PMOS said that it was entirely a matter for the BBC.
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