Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Scotland, Euro, Mrs Blair and Netherlands/Pim Fortuyn.
Scotland
Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister was visiting Scotland today in order to ’steady the boat’ following Wendy Alexander’s resignation from the Scottish Executive last week, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said no. He pointed out that the Prime Minister regularly visited Scotland. Today’s visit was the latest in a series.
Euro
Asked whether Nigel Griffiths had been ‘out of order’ in suggesting a two-year timescale for the introduction of the Euro, the PMOS said that no one was in any doubt as to the Government’s position on the single currency. The five tests were serious tests and would be treated as such accordingly.
Mrs Blair
Questioned as to why Mrs Blair did not give interviews, the PMOS said it was not the policy of the Prime Minister’s wife to do so. Put to him that he had not answered the question that had been posed, the PMOS said that as he had stated on Sunday, the stories at the weekend regarding Mrs Blair chairing the Q&A session of a lecture on transport was nothing new, particularly since this story had first run eighteen months ago.
Put to him that Mrs Blair should agree to give interviews because she had adopted a higher political profile, the PMOS said he would disagree with the premise of the question. For the last eighteen months people had known that Mrs Blair had taken on this role. She had clearly not adopted a higher political profile.
Challenged that this foreknowledge did not make Mrs Blair’s role any less of an issue given she was unelected and unaccountable, the PMOS said he would dispute the presumption that this was an ‘issue’. It wasn’t. Anyone acting as a moderator, who did not express any opinions or contribute to any discussion could not be said to have undertaken a political role.
Put to him that Mrs Blair appeared to have raised her political profile in a number of different areas over the last eighteen months, the PMOS said that just because the media wanted to report that Mrs Blair was raising her profile did not mean that she was. She wasn’t.
Asked to clarify the role Mrs Blair was fulfilling if it wasn’t political, the PMOS she was simply acting as a moderator at a lecture. We were not talking about a policy seminar or any part of the policy-making process. It was a lecture to which someone was invited to express a view. Following the talk, it was usual to hold a discussion with the audience. Since the Prime Minister could not always attend the event for its full duration, it was sensible to get someone else to chair the discussion. It was as simple as that. To pretend it was anything different was a blatant attempt to hype up an old story.
Put to him that the wives of former Prime Ministers had never taken on this type of role, the PMOS said that that might be the case. However, it did not change the fact that Mrs Blair had been undertaking a non policy-making role.
Put to him that there was no way to escape the fact that Mrs Blair’s role was political given the Prime Minister had staked his political reputation on delivering improvements to public transport, the PMOS said he would disagree. Asked to justify his response, the PMOS said that as he had already explained, Mrs Blair had taken on a moderating role. It was not her job to express an opinion or make policy. Her role simply was to chair a discussion, as indeed she had done.
Questioned as to why Mrs Blair had been chosen to act as moderator as opposed to Mrs Prescott for example, the PMOS suggested that journalists were trying to read too much significance into Mrs Blair’s role. As he had stated several times, it was not political.
Asked how many times Mrs Blair had chaired such discussions, the PMOS said we had never made any secret of the fact that she had done so on a number of occasions - perhaps a dozen overall - although in our view that was of little, if any, significance. Asked if there were any discussions which Mrs Blair had not chaired, the PMOS said not as far as he was aware.
Asked how many discussions the Prime Minister had chaired compared with Mrs Blair, the PMOS reiterated that the Prime Minister had not chaired any because he was unable to attend the full duration of such events due to pressures on his time. Asked again why Mrs Blair was acting as moderator rather than a Cabinet Minister for example, the PMOS pointed out that it made sense for Mrs Blair to play a role in an event being held in Downing Street.
Questioned as to whether further lectures were planned and whether Mrs Blair would continue to play a role, the PMOS said yes. It was an idea which had proven valuable. Asked to explain how, the PMOS observed that discussion was always valuable. Even lobby briefings could be valuable sometimes. Asked whether these lectures/discussions had led to any decisions, the PMOS repeated that we were not talking about a policy-making process.
Asked by the Times correspondent if he could change the subject, the PMOS said yes - but only to a topic that was sensible.
Netherlands/Pim Fortuyn
Questioned about the Prime Minister’s reaction to the murder of Pim Fortuyn in the Netherlands, the PMOS agreed that this was a sensible and serious subject. The Prime Minister recognised that the Netherlands was a country in shock. They had not suffered a political assassination since the seventeenth century. As Wim Kok had said yesterday, it was very tragic for his country and the democratic State based on the rule of law.
While there were many aspects of Mr Fortuyn’s policies with which the Prime Minister disagreed, he remained of the view that differences should be settled through debate and the democratic process. Democracy was not advanced in any way by committing murder. It was clear that democracy had been one of the victims in yesterday’s assassination.
Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister initially had been planning to attend a political rally in Rotterdam later today in advance of the forthcoming Dutch elections, the PMOS said yes, but for understandable reasons he had decided to cancel the visit.
Put to him that it was unusual for the Prime Minister to get involved in another country’s election campaign, the PMOS said that it was not for him to get into party matters. That said, his understanding was that Mr Kok had asked the Prime Minister to visit the Netherlands for this purpose during the previous election campaign, and the Prime Minister had agreed to do so.
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