Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Northern Irish Grammar Schools, Peers List, Education Bill and Middle East
Northern Irish Grammar Schools
Asked if the Government had changed its plans on abolishing grammar schools in Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the position on grammar schools in Northern Ireland remained the same. The position was that there were proposals which were out for consultation. Put to him that he had heard that the Northern Ireland minister had said that it was the Irish Assembly’s desire to abolish grammar schools and that if they wanted to they should get on with it, the PMOS said that he thought that might be an inaccurate summary of a recent piece on the 6 o’clock news.
Asked if the status of grammar schools was still open, the PMOS said that it had been stated by government ministers in Northern Ireland that they were not out to abolish grammar schools, but rather they wished to change the process of selection.
Peers List
Asked if Dr. Chai Patel had withdrawn his name from the list of proposed peers, the PMOS said that his answer to all questions on this matter had remained the same since the beginning. That answer was that he would not give a running commentary on the process. The more he had been asked, the more he remained convinced of the merits of the convention which was that we did not discuss this matter at all until the list had been published. Put to him that he had discussed this the other day, the PMOS said that if by discussion the journalist was referring to the time honoured process of journalists asking him questions and him patiently re-iterating his desire not to comment or in other words dodging such questions, then that was setting the bar a little low.
Education Bill
Asked if the Prime Minister had had any meetings with backbenchers today, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister would do everything he could to win the argument right up until the vote. Asked why it was so important to win the programme motion, the PMOS said that he would not get into the party side of the issue but in terms of getting the legislation through the House the Prime Minister had set out his position very clearly at PMQs and he didn’t have anything to add to that.
Put to him that Ruth Kelly seemed to have made a new concession in the House today where she said that schools which currently had partial selection would not be allowed to expand any further, the PMOS said that that had been the position all along, there was nothing new in that. Put to him that she had drawn attention to it for the first time, the PMOS said that if it was already in the Bill it could hardly be described as a concession. That was not to say that the Government ever made concessions, naturally we simply offered clarifications.
Middle East
Asked if the Prime Minister had discussed the current situation in Palestine during his meeting with the Egyptian Prime Minister yesterday, the PMOS said that in terms of this particular situation the more important thing was that the Foreign Secretary had spoken yesterday to President Abbas, the Israeli foreign minister and Condoleezza Rice and that was important step in getting relations going forward. Obviously we valued our relationship with Egypt enormously and that was also important.
Asked how we intended to move forward when the situation had deteriorated so rapidly in Jericho, the PMOS said that work would go on. What was also important was that we understood, as the Prime Minister had set out at PMQs very clearly, the reasons why we had taken the action we had. We had warned the Palestinian authorities several times, through demarches in December and January as well as in a letter last week, of the problems that were being caused for out monitors. We had to put the safety of our personnel high the list of our priorities. What was important was to first of all understand what had actually happened and why it happened and then to start discussions about how we resolved matters. Asked by Sky News what a demarche was, the PMOS said that it was an urgent diplomatic request to deal with a matter.
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