Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Prime Minister’s visit to Washington, Climate Change, Honours Lists, Honours Lists, Sir Haydn Phillips’ Report, Publications and House of Commons Debates
Prime Minister’s visit to Washington
Asked for information about the Prime Minister’s pending trip to Washington this week, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that the Prime Minister would have dinner with President Bush one on one tomorrow evening. There would then be a working session in the Oval Office on Thursday morning and a press conference, followed by a working lunch. The PMOS said that there would be some other events, including a reception on Northern Ireland at the British Embassy, which would be a way of thanking Irish-America for its part. In terms of the subjects involved, the WTO would be high on the agenda, as it was approaching crunch point and the run up to the G8 summit would also be important, particularly on climate change. The PMOS stressed that the outcomes were expected at the summit and not during this visit. Other topics were Africa in terms of the G8, including Darfur where we believed the world needed to send a very clear message to the Sudanese government. Iraq obviously would be an issue, as would the Middle East peace process.
Asked if the Prime Minister would be meeting with some of the Democratic candidates during his visit, the PMOS said that the final programme was still being put in place. However, in terms of Democrats etc, there would be a number of Democrats at the Northern Ireland event.
Asked if the event would include the Clintons, the PMOS said that he was not aware of the final guestlist, but it would be people related to Northern Ireland.
Asked if the Prime Minister would be meeting Democrats to discuss the WTO, the PMOS replied that he was not aware of any plans for him to do so.
Asked further about the Clintons attending, the PMOS said that the plans were not finalised yet and he was not going to brief on particular people.
Climate Change
Asked if we recognised the Guardian’s story this morning about being close to persuading President Bush on a 5 point climate change plan, the PMOS replied that as he had said this morning, what we were seeking at the G8 was a general consensus and a way forward. That must include not just Europe, but also the US and the developing countries, including India and China. The end point of this negotiation is G8, and not this week, but obviously, this was a stepping stone to the G8.
Asked if we were acting in tandem with Chancellor Merkel on this, the PMOS replied that whilst everybody was aware where each other’s position was, it was a question of how the point of consensus was approached. The important thing was that the point the judge whether that had been achieved or not was at G8, not this week.
Asked if there was a sense from the Prime Minister that although his relationship with the US had been the subject of quite serious criticism over the past couple of years, was there a thought that there could be some good had from the relationship, the PMOS said that he would answer the question by using substance, not process. Nobody seriously argued now other than the Gleneagles G8 was a defining moment because of the world’s debate on subjects such as climate change and Africa. The key question that came out of Gleneagles was: could that debate and progress be sustained? On Africa, it was being sustained, although we needed to keep everybody up to the mark on that, and in terms of concrete deliverables, the G8 this year we hoped would further answer that cause. In terms of climate change, if people looked at where the debate on Europe was now compared to where it was at Gleneagles, it was virtually unrecognisable, as we had moved forward. The PMOS continued to say that there were other areas of the world, and the US was not alone in this, as India and China were also involved, where we needed to ask the same question. The time to answer that would be at the G8 in Germany in June, so this week was part of that process of building up to that.
Honours Lists
Asked if the Prime Minister had postponed his resignation of the Honours Lists, the PMOS replied that as he had said earlier, all those questions were premature.
Sir Haydn Phillips’ Report
Asked for further information regarding Sir Haydn Phillips’ statement, the PMOS said that the important thing was that inter-party talks began this afternoon. We believed that that was the way to try and move this forward, and we hoped that everybody contributed to them. This was an interim report from Sir Haydn Phillips. What was now important was the process.
Publications
Asked when was the Prime Minister going to publish his review on family policy, the PMOS told journalists that they would not have very long to wait.
House of Commons Debates
Asked if the Government had shifted position on Parliament’s powers, the PMOS said that as the Prime Minister had said at PMQs before, given that we had debated the Iraq war, it was almost inconceivable that people would not go through such a process again. As we had always highlighted, the important point was that troops were not put at risk by a Parliamentary process. Therefore, that was the balance that had to be achieved. That was always the balance at the heart of the Commons’ policy. The PMOS said that it was almost without precedent for a Government to concede a vote on such occasions, and it did in 2003, and that should be taken into account.
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