Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Middle East, DPM/Airports/Counter-Terror Operation and Armed Forces Cuts
Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
The Prime Minister’s Spokesman told journalists that the Prime Minister had spoken to President Musharraf of Pakistan on Friday to thank him for his country’s contribution and work on the intelligence lead counter terror operation. The Prime Minister had also spoken to Prime Minister Siniora on Saturday who had thanked the Prime Minister for his efforts in helping to bring about the cessation of hostilities. They also discussed the immediate way ahead and the longer-term search for peace in the region. The Prime Minister had been speaking to officials over the weekend and he had spoken to the Deputy Prime Minister last night as well as the Home Secretary and Douglas Alexander. The Prime Minister continued to keep his holiday plans under review.
The Deputy Prime Minister made three private visits to airports yesterday to talk to staff on the ground and passengers. He had been greatly impressed by the work going on and he had extended his thanks to the travelling public for their patient understanding. In addition to his call with the Prime Minister last night the Deputy Prime Minister had met with Cabinet colleagues in Downing Street to discuss the latest developments on the situation. The Deputy Prime Minister had also attended Cobra on Saturday. Today, along with Ruth Kelly, the Deputy Prime Minister would be meeting Muslim leaders. Tomorrow the Deputy Prime Minister would hold a meeting with duty government ministers and other cabinet colleagues to plan ongoing government business, to update them on the Middle East, the next steps in the UN and counter-terror operation at home. He would also meet with Muslims MP, which had been arranged before the summer.
Asked what the message to Muslims leaders would be, the PMS said that the Deputy Prime Minister and Ruth Kelly would be meeting Muslim stakeholders today to call for greater action to tackle extremism and to hear what more the government could be doing to support that. There had already been action taken by government in Muslim communities in response to the preventing extremism together report, which had been published last year. Today’s meeting would build on that work, stepping up progress particularly engaging with young Muslims and Muslim women and on the role of Mosques and Imans in tackling extremism on the ground. Attendees would include representatives of the newly established Mosque and Imams National Advisory Board and Forum Against Extremism as well as organisations working with young Muslims and Muslim women. For further details on the cast list people should speak to the department. Asked whether they would be telling the audience that they could not determine UK foreign policy, the PMS referred the journalist to the government’s response, from the Foreign Secretary, Middle East Minister, Home Secretary and the Transport Secretary, over the weekend to the open letter.
Middle East
Asked where the Foreign Secretary was, the PMS said her understanding was the she had left New York but that people should speak to the Foreign Office for details. The PMS also informed journalists that Hilary Benn had indicated that he would be visiting the region in the near future. Asked about a parliamentary recall, the PMS pointed out that the situation had moved on significantly since the letter had been sent. There were no plans to recall parliament at present. Asked how confident the Prime Minister was that the ceasefire would hold, the PMS reiterated what the Prime Minister had said in response to the resolution being passed. He had said that it was tragic that so many innocent lives, Lebanese and Israeli, had been lost over the past weeks. We must now take the necessary steps to ensure that it is never repeated and of course that the passage of the resolution is immensely welcome. The Prime Minister had gone on to say that that there would continue to be difficulties until it was clear that the combination of Lebanese forces and the UN multinational force could be effectively deployed in returning control of the South of Lebanon to the Lebanese government. We were now following closely the work to pull together an international force and that planning would now intensify both in New York and in Beirut.
DPM/Airports/Counter-Terror Operation
Asked which airports the Deputy Prime Minister had visited, the PMS said that he had visited Stansted, Humberside and Doncaster. Put that the person interviewed on the Today Programme had not seemed to share the views of the Deputy Prime Minister and had complained about the security and queues, the PMS said that the Transport Secretary, Douglas Alexander had addressed the points made on the radio this morning. The Deputy Prime Minister had said that he had been impressed by the patient understanding that he had heard expressed by the people on the ground. Asked whether the Deputy Prime Minister had talked to airline chiefs, the PMS referred the journalist to what the Transport Secretary had said. The government was in regular contact with the bodies involved including the airlines.
Asked whether the Deputy Prime Minister mingled with passengers, the PMS said that her understanding was that he had met travelling passengers. At Stansted for example he had been fully briefed by the airport’s managing director, and met staff as well as passengers waiting for flights. Asked why the Deputy Prime Minister had not gone to Heathrow or Gatwick, the PMS that there would have been sensible operational decisions taken on which airports it was best to visit at the time. In answer to further questions, the PMS said that the DPM’s office had made people aware of the visits yesterday. The PMS did not have specific details of the Deputy Prime Minister’s travel arrangements but the decision on which airports to visit had been taken on a sensible operational basis. They had been official visits without media present. Ministers visited people, places and institutions all the time without cameras present. Asked why the Deputy Prime Minister had chosen to visit Humberside and Doncaster instead of Heathrow and Gatwick, the PMS said that the decisions regarding which airports he had visited would have been taken for sensible operational reasons.
Asked whether the government agreed with the airlines that there was a need for more resources at the airports, the PMS referred journalists back to Douglas Alexander comments as he had dealt with that this morning. Asked whether the government recognised that that there seemed to be some division between what BAA and BA thought was necessary, the PMS said that these issues were being dealt with by the Secretary of State for Transport and journalists should look back over his comments this morning. Asked what influence the airlines had on the government’s decision to downgrade the terror alert, the PMS said that the Home Secretary had made clear that the decisions on the threat warning were made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre based purely on intelligence.
Put that the Transport Secretary had said that security needed upgrading but that he had avoided promising more resources for searching, the PMS said that was not what Douglas Alexander had said. He had said that they would consider any requests that they had. It was a case of working in conjunction with the agencies and considering any requests that they made, but it was not just a case of adding more staff it also meant training staff to do the job effectively. Any deployment decision would be made in conjunction with staff and experts on the ground. In answer to further questions, the PMS thought that people were getting ahead of themselves the Transport Secretary had set out this morning that he had not received a formal request and any such request would be considered. It would not just be a case of extra people being deployed immediately additional staff might need training.
Asked about the government’s attitude to passenger profiling, the PMS said that this was a matter for the Department of Transport to comment on. Asked whether the DfT was in the lead on profiling and whether it had been discussed in Cobra, the PMS said that she was not aware of discussions but journalists should check with the department.
Armed Forces Cuts
Asked about the reports suggesting that the armed forces are being asked to make cutbacks, the PMS said that she had not heard a source on where those reports had come from.
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