Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Afghan Troops, EU Constitution and EU Finance.
Afghan Troops
Asked what the current position was on troops being sent out to Afghanistan was, the PMS said the story appeared to be confused. The Prime Minister had announced last June at the NATO conference in Istanbul that the UK would deploy the Headquarter’s Group of the ARRC (Allied Rapid Reaction Corp). Any talk of how many troops would be deployed, however, was purely speculative.
Asked if the figure of 5000 troops going was therefore "completely wrong", the PMS said the figure was entirely speculative. We had announced there would be a deployment last June.
Put to the PMS that the figure was now speculative, as opposed to "wrong" last week, the PMS said she was trying to clarify where she thought the story might have been coming from last week. She repeated that the figures were speculative, but people may have been confused as to why troops were going to Afghanistan. No decisions had been made about the numbers of troops involved.
Put to her that British sources in Moscow had said 5000 troops would be in line with the announcement made last year, the PMS said again that no decisions on numbers had been made and the figures were speculative.
Asked how many troops from other countries were being deployed to Afghanistan, the PMS referred the journalist to the MOD for more information. The PMS said there were currently 1100 UK service personnel in Afghanistan.
EU Constitution
Asked if the Prime Minister would be seeking to prolong the ratification period for the EU Constitution during his talks this week, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said it would be better if people waited until the talks had taken place in Brussels later in the week. The Prime Minister had set out his views, and we were waiting for the meeting where the issues would be discussed.
EU Finance
Put to her that now France and Germany seemed to be "going soft" on the one per cent line, was Britain’s position still one per cent as the maximum they were prepared to go, the PMS said the Foreign Secretary had set out our position this morning.
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