Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: PM Trip, Joint Trade Summit, Education, Sir Alistair Graham and OFT Referral
PM Trip
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) outlined the Prime Minister’s schedule. The Prime Minister would be going to Slovakia later today where he would meet Mikulas Dzurinda, the Slovak Prime Minster and President Ivan Gasparovic. Then tomorrow he would go on to Prague for talks with Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek. This was a very short visit so there was no time for other calls. However next month he would meet Mirek Topolanek, the Czech opposition leader and Robert Fico, Slovak opposition leader when they were in London.
Joint Trade Summit
Asked for a time frame for the joint summit that the Prime Minister and Brazilian President had called for, the PMOS said that the two leaders believed that this was necessary because we were at a particularly important time in the negotiations. However, while they would like such a meeting to inject momentum into the process they could not impose it on others leaders. It would be necessary to consult other leaders in the first instance. Officials, and leaders if necessary, would consult others about the proposal.
Education
Asked about expectations for the bill, the PMOS said that he would not be drawn into commenting on the vote. The arguments had been set out and the House would make its decision. Asked why MPs had changed their minds, the PMOS said that we had set out the arguments and addressed people’s concerns about selection. People had reached their own conclusions. We had put the case forward clearly and it was for people to explain their decisions.
Asked to confirm that there had been no changes since Ruth Kelly’s letter to Barry Sheerman, the PMOS said that the letter had set out the case and as journalists knew there had been meetings going on between Ruth Kelly and colleagues. In response to the suggestion that some areas might be reopened at committee stage, the PMOS said that he was not aware of the suggestion. The government had set out its position.
Sir Alistair Graham
Asked why Geoff Hoon had rejected Sir Alistair Graham’s proposals, the PMOS said that the problem with the call for independent figures was that the only argument put forward was that they could reach decisions with less controversy. If people actually looked at the experiences of the Mayor of London, Lord Hutton and even the one in yesterday’s Evening Standard about Sir Philip Mawer it did not seem to be the case. In the end these decisions were matters of judgement, so what was appropriate was that the person accountable to parliament and ultimately the electorate took those decisions. In the end these would always be seen as matters of judgement. This was why the Prime Minster continued to believe that he was the one that the electorate expected to take such decisions about ministers. Geoff Hoon had been reflecting that view.
Put that Sir Alistair Graham had suggested that this would benefit ministers, the PMOS said that it was difficult to see how. The problem was not in establishing the facts it was in making the judgements based on them. In the end therefore the key was accountability. Should you have someone who was accountable taking decisions that the electorate can hold to account or not. The idea that some independent figure, such as Hutton, Mawer or in the Mayor of London’s case would be treated as a new Solomon who was beyond reproach was for the birds. If as suggested the Prime Minister remained the final arbitrator then in what way had that changed the controversial part of what happened now. The controversial part was not the establishment of the facts it was in the judgements taken.
OFT Referral
Asked whether the Prime Minister had thoughts on the OFT referral, the PMOS said that because there was an OFT referral people should await the outcome of that referral and if necessary we would comment afterwards.
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