Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Barroso, party funding, Education Bill, Sir Ian Blair and the vote on ID cards.
Barroso
Asked what had been discussed at the meeting, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that it had primarily been a preparatory meeting ahead of next week’s European Council. Asked what would be on the agenda at the Council, the PMOS said that energy would be one issue. It was the spring economic council so it would no doubt focus on economic matters, but it was for the Austrian presidency to decide.
Party funding
Put to the PMOS that Jack Straw had seemed receptive to possible changes of disclosure rules for party funding and had he been reflecting government views, the PMOS said, as they knew, that there was some difficulty for him to discuss these matters because largely they were in the party domain. What he could say was what the Prime Minister’s approach was. The Prime Minister was open minded on these issues but equally and importantly he believed that there had to be a consensus across the parties. It was much easier to move on such matters if there was a genuine consensus. Asked if the Prime Minister was prepared to sit down with opposition parties to discuss it, the PMOS said that this was party territory, but he believed there had been comments from the Labour party over the weekend. The Prime Minister believed there should be a consensus among the parties. Likewise in regard to state funding he believed there was an issue, but that you could only move forward if there was a genuine consensus amongst the parties. Asked how you could get that consensus, the PMOS said that there were usually ways through the normal channels to get such things going. The Prime Minister recognised there were genuine issues here. If you were going to move to a system of state funding then you needed genuine consensus. On the other hand if you had a situation where political donors to any party immediately became subject to a level of media scrutiny that deterred anyone from contributing to political parties then you had an issue there too. It was in the public’s interest to have properly funded political parties. These issues should be a matter for open debate and a genuine consensus. Put that the Prime Minister was not taking this forward, the PMOS referred journalists to statements made by the Labour party over the weekend.
Asked if the Prime Minister had a view on Dr Chai Patel, the PMOS said that the normal process was that these matters remained private until published, a reason that did not need spelt out at the moment, so he would not comment specifically. We did not think that it was right or proper that individuals were put under the spotlight in this way during the process of deciding peers. Asked if there was a fear within Downing Street that the system could break down because of that deterrent, the PMOS said that it was a legitimate question to ask whether people wanted to put themselves at risk of facing this sort of scrutiny simply through making a political donation.
Education Bill
Asked whether the Prime Minister was still seeing groups of MPs, the PMOS said that he would continue to see whomever he needed to see. The government did not take anything for granted on this at all. Asked if it was still a "labour bill", the PMOS said that it seemed like a very party way of putting it, but he had heard that expression being used.
Sir Ian Blair
Asked whether the Sir Ian Blair issue was now closed, the PMOS said, as he had this morning, the Attorney General and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner had spoken this morning and Sir Ian Blair had explained the circumstances. The Attorney General had said that he now regarded the matter as closed. Therefore the government regarded the matter as closed. Asked who appointed the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, the PMOS said that it was the Home Secretary.
Vote
Asked whether the Prime Minister was planning to vote on the ID cards bill tonight, the PMOS said that he did not usually preview the Prime Minister’s voting intentions, though journalists could no doubt imagine that he would make the effort.
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