Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Middle East, UN-Mrs. Beckett, Afghanistan and Fishing
Middle East
The Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told journalists that the Prime Minister was in Downing Street and had been working over the weekend on the situation in the Middle East. The Prime Minister had briefings and meetings with advisors, as well as working on draft texts and on securing maximum support for the UN resolution. The Prime Minister had spoken on the phone a great deal to leaders, including Kofi Annan, President Bush, President Chirac, President Putin, Prime Minister Persson, Prime Minister Siniora, Prime Minister Olmert, Prime Minister Zapatero, and Prime Minster Prodi. The Prime Minister had also spoken to Margaret Beckett, the Deputy Prime Minister, and to Hilary Benn, as well as our Ambassador to the UN, Sir Emyr Jones-Parry.
The PMS said that the Prime Minister had also had briefings on the humanitarian situation in Lebanon from both Christian Aid and Oxfam, and had spoken to the Lebanese Prime Minister to reassure him of our commitment to take an active role in supporting the humanitarian relief effort. The Prime Minister would continue to speak to world leaders today in order to gain maximum support for the resolution, and to gain the earliest possible passage of that resolution to bring about the cessation of hostilities as quickly as possible.
Asked how long the Prime Minister thought he would need to be in No10, and would he stay until the resolution was passed, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister was not going anywhere today. We would keep people updated on the situation, and when the Prime Minister did go away, he would obviously keep in touch with people on a daily basis about the situation.
Asked if the Prime Minister would hand over the responsibilities of the Middle East negotiations to John Prescott, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had kept in contact with the Foreign Secretary and the Deputy Prime Minister over the weekend, and would continue to do so as and when he was on leave.
Asked that when the Prime Minister spoke with President Putin, did they discuss how to put pressure on Syria, the PMS replied that we did not comment on individual conversations.
Asked whether we would be contributing troops to the stabilisation force, the PMS said that the stabilisation force was something that was under discussion in the UN. However, as the Prime Minister had said at the press conference last week, historically, we had not contributed troops to that area of the world. The composition and the political framework in which the stabilisation force would work was being discussed at the UN.
Asked why we were supporting a resolution that did not require an Israeli withdrawal, the PMS replied that we recognised the concerns on both sides, as both countries had deep rooted differences. The Prime Minister was working to bridge those differences. However, what that resolution did was attempt to find a balance, which events on the ground showed was not easy, and it identified a middle ground which would allow the urgent cessation of hostilities.
Asked if that meant we would not support the Lebanese requests that the resolution sanctified the requirement of a withdrawal, the PMS said that she was not going to pre-empt the discussion that would be taking place in New York.
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with General Sir Mike Jackson that it would take a matter of weeks to get a stabilisation force on the ground the PMS said that until discussions in New York had taken place, she did not want to speculate on those timescales.
Put that people were told on Friday that the reason the Prime Minister was delaying his holiday was that he did not want to be incommunicado whilst on a long haul flight, so why had he still not gone away, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had been continuing to work on this issue. As we had said, the Prime Minister would go on holiday when he believed that he had done all he could to take us to a certain stage of the process.
Asked if the Prime Minister would be in contact whilst he was on holiday, the PMS confirmed that he would be.
Asked how confident was the Prime Minister that if there was a resolution this week that it would be followed by a cessation in hostilities, the PMS said that as the Prime Minister had said, he believed that that was what should happen, and that was what we were working towards.
Asked if there was a vote this week in the Security Council, would Margaret Beckett go to New York, the PMS replied that as we had said before, if there was a Foreign Secretary Level meeting held at the UN, then Mrs. Beckett would attend it.
Asked what was the nature of Hilary Benn’s discussions with the Prime Minister over the weekend, the PMS replied that they would have discussed the nature of the humanitarian relief efforts and requirements in Lebanon, and the situation on the ground.
Asked that when the Prime Minister did go away on holiday, would he keep the Foreign Secretary and the Deputy Prime Minister informed, or would it be the other way around, the PMS said that they would be in contact. As we had said before, when the Prime Minister was away, the Deputy Prime Minister looked after the day-to-day running of Government business. However, the Prime Minister was still the Prime Minister wherever he was.
Put that the French would have a high profile in the area, and did the Prime Minister see that as damaging to the British influence in the area, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had been involved over the weekend in discussions with both the American and French leaders.
Put that Prime Minister Olmert had said in a Times interview that he had discussed with the Prime Minister the idea of British troops being part of the stabilisation force, as Prime Minister Olmert trusted the integrity of the British forces, and was there consideration of even a token British force joining the stabilisation force, the PMS replied that we had talked about sending assistance in terms of training and other aspects of the stabilisation force, but that we had set out our position regarding troops.
Put that in 1983, the UK did send troops to Lebanon, so there was a precedent, the PMS referred the journalist to what the Prime Minister had said about it last week.
Asked if the Americans were responsible for having Jack Straw sacked, the PMS replied that this was an old story. When the subject was brought up again over the weekend, we said, to quote a colleague, that the story was nonsense at the time, and it still was.
UN-Mrs. Beckett
Put that the Iranians had rejected the UN’s proposals on their development of nuclear weapons, and what we were we going to do about it, the PMS said that there would be discussions in New York.
Put that we had nobody else apart from Emyr Jones-Parry in New York, as the Foreign Secretary was in a caravan in France, the PMS replied that she was not going to pre-empt the discussions on the issue.
Asked if Mrs. Beckett would get involved, the PMS said again that she was not going to pre-empt discussions at the UN.
Put that we had said that if there was going to be a Foreign Ministers meeting that Mrs. Beckett would attend, the PMS said that was correct.
Asked if Mrs. Beckett would be present for talks on the humanitarian corridor to be established, the PMS said that we needed to wait and see which meetings were called before we could comment on what she would attend.
Asked when the vote might be, the PMS replied that we hoped to have a vote on this issue as soon as possible to bring about the urgently needed end to the fighting.
Afghanistan
Put that another British soldier had died in Afghanistan, so was there any consideration for sending out extra troops on top of what we had already promised, the PMS said that the Prime Minister extended his condolences sincerely to the family and friends of the soldier who had been killed. As we had said before, our troop levels would be guided by the commanders on the ground. If or when we received such a request, we would respond at that time.
Put that given the despair on the back benches of the Prime Minister’s stance on Lebanon, and given that the UN’s Deputy General Secretary believed that the Prime Minister cannot be an "honest broker" on this because of the baggage on Iraq, and given that columns showed that the Prime Minister had lost a huge amount of authority, why didn’t he think that he had become a liability when so many people thought that he had, the PMS replied that there were so many premises we disagreed with in the question, she did not know where to begin. The Prime Minister was focussing on bringing about the earliest possible passing of the important resolution to end the hostilities.
Fishing
Asked further about DEFRA’s fishing announcement on Wednesday, the PMS said she believed it was about sea bass.
Asked if it was about how to cook sea bass, the PMS said it was not, but people should speak to the department for further information.
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