Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Cabinet, Iraq Study Group, Prince of Wales’ Conference, Lecture on Integration and Multi-Culturalism and Policy Inquiry
Cabinet
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said at this morning’s Pre Budget Report (PBR) Cabinet the Chancellor gave a presentation to the Cabinet on his tenth PBR to be delivered this afternoon. The Chancellor said that with the foundation of stability achieved by this Government, and the economy growing more strongly than expected, Britain is well placed to be one of the great success stories of the 21st century, but only if we now make the necessary long-term investment in education and skills, and take the right long-term decisions in response to reports published on issues such as transport, research and environment.
Iraq Study Group
Asked if the Prime Minister had seen the leaked report of the Iraq Study Group, the PMOS said journalists should wait for the real thing, they had only a few hours to wait.
Asked whether the Prime Minister agreed with the comments made by Robert Gates yesterday, the PMOS said what the Prime Minister agreed was what he had said repeatedly, that it was difficult in Iraq. Journalists only had to look at the David Frost interview where he had said something similar. They also only had to look at the Prime Minister’s Los Angeles speech, where he talked in general about fighting extremism, and said that there we were not winning in the short term. What was important was that we recognised there were different parts and aspects in Iraq. Secondly, what Robert Gates had not said was that we could not win. What he had set out was how we need to meet the challenge that we face in Iraq, and that was what the Prime Minister had been saying for quite some time.
Asked whether there would be any reaction from the Prime Minister once the study was published, the PMOS said the first reaction would be tomorrow at the press conference with President Bush. Asked if the Prime Minister’s overall view was we were not wining the war on extremism, the PMOS said it was still his view that overall in the fight against extremism we had to mobilise both in terms of politics and security. That is why he set out in the Los Angeles speech the broader Middle East strategy, which he believes we should pursue.
On fighting terrorism in areas such as Afghanistan and Iraq he said we could not say we have won. What he did say was that he believed it was possible to win, and that was the important, it was possible to win if you pursued the right military strategy, security strategy and political strategy. That was the same whether it was true in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Asked whether the Prime Minister agreed that winning could take decades, the PMOS said the Prime Minister had said in his Los Angles speech that he believed that this was a generation struggle against terrorism. Of course you adjust to certain circumstances on the ground, certain circumstances would be the increasing capability of the Iraqi forces to take control of their own destiny. Ultimately the future of Iraq will be decided by the Iraqi’s themselves.
Prince of Wales’ Conference
Asked if the PMOS could say anything on the Prime Minister’s speech later today, the PMOS said he could not.
Lecture on Integration and Multi-Culturalism
Asked if the Prime Minister was delivering a lecture tomorrow, the PMOS said the lecture would be on Friday in London.
Police Inquiry
Asked if there had been any contact from Scotland Yard, the PMOS said no.
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