Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Northern Ireland, Reshuffle and Iraq.
Northern Ireland
Asked if the Prime Minister was satisfied with Gerry Adams’ clarification today concerning the use of the words ’should’ and ‘would’, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he did not think it would be helpful to engage in semantic pedantry. The most important thing was to obtain a clear answer to the question as to whether the punishment beatings, the enforced exiles, the arms procurement and the intelligence gathering would stop - and stop now - and if the answer to that was yes, whether that was a reflection of the views of the IRA leadership. This was not a question being asked by the Ulster Unionist Party, but by the British and Irish Governments with the full support of the US Administration. Paul Murphy and Brian Cowen were meeting Martin McGuiness this afternoon and would no doubt put the question to him once again. Asked if Downing Street was looking for a further IRA statement, the PMOS said that the format of the IRA’s response was a matter for the IRA itself to decide. Whatever decision was taken, it was clear that the response would need to reflect the view of the IRA leadership.
Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister might travel to Northern Ireland during the course of this week, the PMOS said that there were no plans for him to visit the region at this stage. That said, it was important to bear in mind the fact that the situation remained fluid.
Reshuffle
Asked whether the Prime Minister was planning to announce a reshuffle sooner rather than later given the suggestion that John Denham’s former post at the Home Office was far too important to remain unfilled, the PMOS reminded journalists that it wasn’t our policy to answer reshuffle questions. Asked if the Prime Minister wanted to see John Denham back in the Government, the PMOS said he realised that the issue of Iraq was receding in media terms. However, that did not mean that our rules regarding reshuffle questions had changed. Clearly they had not. Questioned as to whether it would be fair to give Mr Denham his job back given the fact that other MPs had ‘put their consciences into a blind trust’ in an effort to maintain Government cohesion, the PMOS repeated that he would not be drawn into commenting on reshuffle questions. Asked to explain the justification behind the Prime Minister’s decision to delay naming Mr Denham’s successor, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister clearly wanted to get Mr Denham’s replacement right and should therefore be given the time and space to be able to do so.
Iraq
Asked by the Guardian why the Prime Minister had refrained from taking the opportunity at his news conference earlier todayto call on Saddam Hussein to give himself up, the PMOS said he thought that the Guardian’s question to the Prime Minister had provided some entertaining moments at the news conference this morning. As the Prime Minister had pointed out many times in the past few weeks, we did not know if Saddam was alive or dead. Until we were able to ascertain his fate with any certainty, there was simply no point in engaging in speculation.
Asked to clarify the Prime Minister’s response this morning to a question regarding reports of degrading treatment of looters by Coalition troops, the PMOS pointed out that the alleged incident had not taken place in a British-controlled area of Iraq. That said, we wanted to find out precisely what had transpired as part of the joint Coalition planning process. Obviously this would be an operational matter which was best handled by those on the ground. Asked if we disapproved of the incident, the PMOS reiterated our view that it was important to find out the facts first before providing comment.
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