Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Iraq and Budget.
Iraq
Asked if there were any plans for Jack Straw to visit Basra, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said not as far as he was aware. Asked whether Clare Short would be going, the PMOS said that he hadn’t heard of any Ministerial plans to go to Iraq. He pointed out that the military conflict was still ongoing. As the Defence Secretary had said in his Statement to the House this afternoon, this was a dangerous and difficult period. We acknowledged that there had been significant advances in recent days. However, it was important for people to recognise there were still real dangers ahead.
Budget
Asked if it was fair to say that the Prime Minister had had less time this year to speak to the Chancellor in the run-up to the Budget, the PMOS said that he hadn’t seen a ‘league table’ detailing the number of hours the Prime Minister and Chancellor spent talking about the Budget from one year to the next. That said, it was clear that they had had a number of very detailed discussions over the past two weeks. It went without saying that most of the Prime Minister’s time was being taken up with the issue of Iraq. That was to be expected. However, he was also focussing on the domestic agenda, with the Budget and Northern Ireland being the two main topics to occupy his time.
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