Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Prime Minister, Cabinet, Afghanistan and US Visa Restrictions
Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) started with comment on the UVF statement this morning. The PMOS said that we welcomed this announcement, but as with statements from other paramilitary groups in the past we will wait to see it delivered in action. What it underlined however, once again, was that the peace process has worked. People can see it working in action. Next week’s events will underline that further.
Asked to what extent the lack of decommissioning plans in the UVF statement had on the credibility of their intentions, the PMOS said that the judgement will come whenever the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) reports on whether the UVF are delivering on what they have said. This is one of the things that we want to see what actually happens in reality. The IMC just last week reported two things. One, yet again, that the IRA was fully living up to its commitments, but two, also there is a desire on the loyalist side to move away from violence and away from criminality. What we need to see is how today’s statement is translated into action. What is very clear is that the generation that lived through the troubles, not just wants to stop the violence, but recognises that the only way forward is through politics, and politics means respect for the rule of law, but also recognition that all sides have to work together. That is why then peace process has worked. That is what it has delivered.
Prime Minister
Asked to clarify the position of the Prime Minister with regard to being a Member of Parliament (MP) as reported on the Press Association newswire, the PMOS said the announcement next week would be solely about the Prime Minister as leader of the Labour Party. The Prime Minister has made no decision whatsoever to stand down as an MP and very firmly remains an MP for Sedgefield and proud of it.
Asked if the Prime Minister would be setting out whether or not he would be remaining as an MP until the next General Election, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister will simply talk next week about his position as leader of the Labour Party.
Asked if the PMOS was separating what was a Party matter from a Government matter, was the PMOS able to say what the Prime Minister would say next week if it is solely to do with the leadership of the Labour Party, the PMOS said that he had been authorised this morning to say that the Prime Minister has made no decision whatsoever about standing down as an MP. The PMOS added, as he had said yesterday, we do have to be very clear, next week is about his position as Party leader; it is not about his position as Prime Minister.
Asked to clarify what exactly the PMOS meant by the Prime Minister has made no decision whatsoever, the PMOS said that he meant precisely that the Prime Minister has made no decision what so ever. In fact the Prime Minister has indicated that himself in the past, on the record.
Asked if it was the PMOS’s understanding that the assumption that he will stay on as an MP until the next election is based on John Burton, the PMOS said that he would not get into textual analysis on this matter, nor would he get into textual analysis on the things that John Burton has said as that is not the role of the PMOS.
Asked if it was surprising that the Prime Minister had made no decision, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister will take this as he finds it and make his mind up when he does.
Asked if the Prime Minister had been considering stepping down, the PMOS said again that was trying to get him to give a running commentary and he would not do that.
Asked if Wednesday or Thursday would be a busier day for reporters, the PMOS said that he would be very busy on Tuesday and that is where his focus was and that is all he would say.
Asked if the Prime Minister would be in Chequers next Friday, the PMOS said that we would brief next week next week.
Cabinet
Asked about what had been discussed at Cabinet, the PMOS said that Cabinet this morning heard a report from the Attorney General on Operation Crevice and he stressed again how successful it had been. He underlined that it showed the very successful way in which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) worked with the police to get these prosecutions. The Attorney General had also underlined how the operation saved many, many lives and therefore the united view of the Cabinet was that the security services and the police should be very firmly congratulated on the outcome of the operation.
The PMOS added that there was also a detailed report from the Secretary of State for Defence, who had just returned from Iraq, on what he had seen there.
Asked if the Secretary of State for Defence’s report include an assessment of the preparedness of the Iraqis to take over the Government, the PMOS said what the Secretary of State for Defence had pointed out was that we had already half handed over areas in the south, secondly, that the Iraqi 10th battalion is increasing in its capabilities all the time but thirdly, we still are there very firmly in a backup role.
Asked if there had been any discussions about the safety of Prince Harry in Iraq, the PMOS said no.
Asked what the reaction from No.10 was following General Sir Michael Rose’s comments that he could understand why the insurgents did what they did and that the Prime Minister should admit defeat, the PMOS said that people will have their own views but as the Secretary of State for Defence reported there is a democratically elected government in Iraq. That government is getting increasingly to grips with the situation. That is something that would have not have been possible under Saddam; therefore what we need to do is to continue to support that democratically elected government. There are issues around reconciliation which we need to address, and address in a very direct way. Equally what people shouldn’t underestimate was the progress that often gets obscured by the very real violence.
Afghanistan
Asked if there were any plans to increase the efforts to spare civilian casualties, the PMOS said that we always want to avoid civilian casualties and big efforts are made to avoid civilian casualties, unfortunately that is not always possible but every effort is made. A great effort is made by our troops to do so. Asked if there was any recognition that NATO was right in its views on casualties, the PMOS said that casualties are always regrettable in their own right, but there is obviously a political impact as well. Equally however, there is a real battle going on in parts of Afghanistan to keep the government protected from the Taliban. That has made real progress, not least in Sanguin Valley in the past few days and the need to keep that military progress going is recognised at the same time as needing to make political progress.
US Visa Restrictions
Asked what the Government’s response was to the claim that second and third generation UK born Pakistanis are being vetted more closely when they apply for visas, the PMOS said that the US Embassy here has denied the story and we have denied it as well. If you take both denials together what we have is a fairly comprehensive denial of the story. Asked if the story was totally wrong, the PMOS said if it wasn’t local government election day he would have said rubbish. Asked if there was any smoke beneath the rubbish, the PMOS said he’d never underestimated the ability of the Independent to create smoke, but there was no underlying line, so people were genuinely scratching their heads at the story.
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