Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Visit to Indonesia, Intelligence and Security Committee Report, Prime Minister’s speeches/Iraq, Succession/Spectator, Dr. Condoleezza Rice visit, Wilson Doctrine, Northern Ireland and Washington/Medal/Reshuffle.
Prime Minister’s Visit to Indonesia
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that before this trip had started, he had said that in many ways, this trip was an illustrated guide to speeches and the themes that the Prime Minister had been developing in his speeches. It had been borne out, particularly in Indonesia.
The Prime Minister found the meeting with the religious leaders both informative and moving, and he did so because clearly, there were differences over issues, and we had to be completely explicit about this, such as Iraq. There was also an acknowledgement by the religious leaders, firstly that Britain was a genuine multi cultural country; secondly that the Government and the Prime Minister had shown itself willing to listen to Muslim opinion in Britain and abroad; and thirdly, that the Prime Minister in this trip had shown that he was committed to reaching a new understanding, if not about the past, at least about the future. That was why it was particularly important that we announced today as part of the agreement with Indonesia, an advisory group made up of religious leaders from within Islam to talk about these kinds of issues, and then to report to the Prime Minister and to the President of Indonesia.
Intelligence and Security Committee Report
Put that the BBC had been extensively reporting about the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) Investigation Board’s report into the July 7th bombing, and did this represent a security breach, the PMOS replied that the time to comment on the ISC report would be when it was actually published, and not before. The PMOS said he was sure that whoever was responsible for the report would be looking to see how reports about the report had come out.
Prime Minister’s speeches/Iraq
Put that the Prime Minister had said in his speech last week that there were some people who just couldn’t get past Iraq, and was he concerned that that seemed to include an awful lot of Muslims in Indonesia, the PMOS said: no, there was a difference. That was apparent both in the meeting with the religious leaders, and in the school. There was a difference between people who wanted to express a) their opposition to Iraq; and b) those who had asked for an explanation on Iraq, and on the other hand, a willingness to engage to try and make sure that such misunderstandings did not happen in the future.
The Prime Minister had said at the meeting with the religious leaders that the danger was always that the West and Islam talk past each other, rather than to each other. The religious leaders however, all of whom had read his speech, agreed that this was not a clash of civilisations, but a clash about civilisations. They also, whether it was the President, whether it was the religious leaders, or indeed in the school, underlined that they recognised that we had distinguished between moderate Islam, which was opposed to terrorism, and those extremists who tried to exploit Islam. The key theme was that yes, we had to take security measures, so here in Indonesia we were talking about stepping up co-operation with the police on counter-terrorism and so on, but we also had to try and push forward on issues such as Israel and Palestine, and they recognised that the Prime Minister was trying to do that.
Asked what did the Prime Minister say when the moderate Muslim leaders said that the presence of British troops in Iraq was actually fuelling terrorism, not defeating it, the PMOS replied that they didn’t actually say that. What they wanted to know was why were we still in Iraq. The answer to that, as the Prime Minister had said, was because first and foremost, the democratically elected government of Iraq wanted us to be there. Secondly, there was a UN mandate, and had been for two years, to be there. What the Prime Minister had said at the school was that there was a view, which was represented among Muslim opinion, which said we shouldn’t be in Iraq. There was a view that we had which was that we should be in Iraq, but what mattered was actually the view of the Iraqis themselves. They had expressed that view, 12 million of them, in democratic elections in which those who supported Saddam were free to stand and express their view. Very few did, and even fewer got support, and the democratically elected representatives of Iraq, whether they are Sunni, Shia or Kurd, all wanted us to stay for the time being. Therefore that is the policy.
Succession/Spectator
Put that the Spectator had reported that before the Prime Minister went on his trip, he and the Chancellor had met to discuss the succession, and it claimed they had agreed dates, that they had discussed the process of how the transfer might take place, and was this true, the PMOS asked which detailed source did the Spectator quote for this?
The journalist replied that it was an un-named source, as the PMOS would not be surprised to learn. The PMOS replied that he would not dignify it with a comment.
Asked if it could be inferred from that that it was a non-denial denial, the PMOS replied that he had nothing that in any way suggested that any of it was true, but also, that he would not contribute to the Spectator publicity machine.
Asked if the PMOS was saying that he did not know, i.e. that it might be true, but he did not know if it was, the PMOS replied: no, what he was saying was that it was not worthy of comment. Whenever the Spectator produced some evidence of this, then perhaps it would be worthy of comment, but they had produced absolutely none.
Dr. Condoleezza Rice visit
Asked for further information regarding a mosque in Blackburn who had withdrawn its invitation to Condaleeza Rice to visit it this weekend, apparently because of the prospect of protests locally, and what was the reaction to it, the PMOS replied that as the Prime Minister had shown here, the PMOS did not want to comment directly on the situation because he did not know the circumstances. However, a more general point was that however strongly people disagreed, what was important was that we did our utmost to increase understanding, not decrease it. Therefore that was what should guide us.
Wilson Doctrine
Put that throughout the debate about security issues in recent years, the Government had made repeatedly the point that the key thing was to listen to what the security professionals had said, and to take their advice very seriously, but the Prime Minister had decided in this case not to take the advice of the Interception Communications Commissioner who had very clearly advised that the Wilson doctrine should be changed so that MPs were treated just like any other citizen of this country, so why had the Prime Minister decided that MPs should be treated differently, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister considered very, very carefully the advice from Swinton Thomas as people would expect.
Today, he was fulfilling the commitment he made in September to inform Parliament of the outcome at the earliest possible opportunity. What was important to recognise was that this was a decision which had to be considered seriously at all sorts of levels, and the Government and the Prime Minister had gone through a very detailed process of consultation. The decision today was the result of that detailed consultation process. The issues involved were difficult, and everybody accepted that, but the decision today was the result of a very detailed consultation process amongst all the relevant people.
Asked if that meant that Sinn Fein no longer needed to sweep their buildings and cars, the PMOS said nice try! Although he was thousands of miles away, he still maintained the practice of not commenting on individual MPs, and that remained the case.
Northern Ireland
Asked what was happening next week on Northern Ireland, the PMOS said that we would announce it whenever we are ready to announce it. However, we had been in the process of putting together a package of proposals, and we were nearing the process of completing that package. Whenever we did so we would make further announcements.
Washington/Medal/Reshuffle
Asked if there was a decision not to go to Washington to make the third speech next week and if that was a result of something at our end, or was it at the American end, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister had said that he would make a speech shortly, or in the not-too-distant future in America. We would still do that, and that remained the Prime Minister’s very firm intention. Final details had not been tied down, but they would be in due course.
Asked if the Prime Minister might be tempted to pick up his medal from Congress when he goes, the PMOS asked who was going for the hat trick?! He referred people to the answer he gave the last time this question was asked.
Asked if the trip was delayed because there was going to be a reshuffle, the PMOS replied the journalist had got it! The answer, however, was: no.
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