Press Briefing: 11am Thursday 3 July 2003

Briefing from the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman on: BBC, Berlusconi and Child Protection Green Paper.

BBC

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that he would like to correct some suggestions made in the last 24 hours regarding the Government's dossier on WMD in Iraq. The PMOS made it clear that Downing Street had nothing to do with the leak of Alastair Campbell's memo to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. As we had said all along the documents we submitted to the FAC were a matter for the Committee, and Newsnight last night was wrong to say otherwise as the Guardian today concurred. What the Committee decided was entirely a matter for the Committee, what we hoped obviously was that everyone involved would approach this issue in a detached and objective matter, judging the issues on the facts rather than politics or any pre-conceived ideas about Alastair Campbell. The PMOS repeated that Alastair Campbell had not inserted the 45 minute intelligence into the dossier as alleged, he had not done so knowing it to be false as alleged and he had not done so against the wishes of the intelligence agencies as alleged. That was the original claim, not that we gave undue prominence to the intelligence, or that there was unease in the intelligence community, or that we or that we hammed it up as the BBC had been saying this morning. This was a JIC process, owned and driven by them. Former Conservative Defence Minister Nicholas Soames had also now confirmed this having talked - he said- to the Chief of the Security and Intelligence Services himself. To claim otherwise, as Mr Soames said, was completely and utterly untrue. We had not doctored intelligence. The PMOS said that he was glad to see that the Today Programme had reported his comments eventually, although it was unfortunate that that point was not made in the interview with the Leader of Mr. Soames' party. The Government's position had been consistent throughout, and we would have said that to the reporter had he actually contacted us before broadcasting in May. He didn't do that despite what the Today Programme said on Saturday. Geoff Hoon would have confirmed that this morning had they accepted his offer to appear in the morning to talk about that and the return of the RMP officers from Iraq. Unfortunately Today turned him down, despite having initially invited him on, once he had said he wanted to refute the allegations made on Saturday. In all of this we should stick to the facts. We had gone out of our way to give the facts to the FAC. A false claim based on a piece of gossip does not justify the enormous cost of a full judicial inquiry.

Asked whether the FAC could be objective, the PMOS said that what was important was that the committee would speak for itself and we were not going to speak or comment on what any members of the committee said. It was important that people dealt with this factually and the facts of the matter were that the first Alastair Campbell heard of the 45-minute claim had been when it was included in the first JIC draft of the dossier in the second week of September. That was a fact, that completely contradicted the original BBC claim which was that the 45-minutes figure was wrong and the government knew it was wrong before it put it in the dossier. That was completely false. Asked if the Government would put all the facts before the Committee the PMOS said that the Government had gone out of its way to put the facts before the committee and to do so in accordance with the usual conventions on intelligence. Anyone who had seen the story in today's Guardian would see the efforts to which he had gone to submit the facts to the committee without breaching the normal conventions on intelligence matters, which were there for good reason. The PMOS reminded journalists that the Intelligence and Security Committee was also looking into these matters.

Asked why we had raised this issue again the PMOS said that we hadn't made any agreement or "truce" with the BBC, and if false suggestions were being made as they were on Newsnight last night about our involvement in the Guardian story, then it was proper that we corrected that. If there was a false interpretation of what was originally said then it was right that we point that out. What was said this morning was that the original allegation had not been that we had doctored intelligence. But clearly if it was reported that we had inserted something against the wishes of the intelligence agency that seemed to him a pretty good definition of doctoring something. The PMOS said that he was not trying to be controversial for the sake of being controversial or aggressive but simply to be factual and it was important that we stick to the facts. Asked about the possible interpretations of Alastair Campbell's memo to the FAC the PMOS said that what the memo revealed was a normal process of communication within Government. The important thing was that some amendments were accepted and some were not. That was a normal process of Government. The Committee would reach its own judgement and come to its own view. That was entirely its right. That was all there was to say about that. The important thing was that it was clear that this was a process where the JIC were in control. It was JIC document, signed off by the JIC chairman. Asked about the thinking behind Alastair Campbell's amendments to the dossier, the PMOS said that he didn't want to pre-empt the Committee's report, but all he would say was that there was a process of trying to clarify what the report was and wasn't saying. That was a perfectly legitimate part of communications within Government and to put an interpretation on it which the facts did not bare was wrong. Asked if the 45-minutes had been given undue prominence in the dossier the PMOS said it should be absolutely clear that the 45-minute claim originated with the JIC, not from Downing Street. Nothing had been revealed so far that suggested that we had done anything to "sex-up" the 45-minute claim.

Asked if there was a sufficient distance between the JIC and Downing Street the PMOS said that the important thing was that the Chairman of the JIC John Scarlett had the authority and the independence to engage in a conversation with Downing Street and felt sure enough of his position to be able to refuse and reject suggestions when he didn't think them to be appropriate. That suggested that there was sufficient distance and independence for everyone to be confident that this was a process that worked. Asked why the FAC hadn't received every single document to do with the dossier the PMOS said that firstly there was the separate committee, the ISC and secondly there were genuine concerns about not revealing intelligence and those were the conventions in which we had to operate.

Asked to clarify the role of the GICS in this issue the PMOS said that this issue went to the central integrity of the Government and the case that the Government made about the need to go to war in Iraq. It was also a case for Government press officers if claims were made about the way in which they interacted with the reporter concerned which were false. Asked how the FAC could work effectively if they didn't have all the information in front of them the PMOS said that the Committee had a very clear statements from Alastair Campbell and the Foreign Secretary, both speaking with the authority of the chairman of the JIC.

Berlusconi

Asked if the Prime Minister had any response to Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi's comments yesterday the PMOS said that as the Foreign Secretary had said this morning, the best thing was that this matter be resolved between the Italians and the European Parliament. No doubt all the parties concerned would be aware of the comments and the responses that this unfortunate incident had prompted. Asked if Mr Berlusconi was fit to be the President of the European Council the PMOS said that Mr Berlusconi was Prime Minister of Italy and it was Italy's turn to hold the Presidency of the European Council and that was the position. Asked whether the Prime Minister felt Mr Berlusconi's comments were unacceptable the PMOS repeated that some times it was better to let matters be resolved by the parties concerned rather than for others to wade in. Asked what the Prime Minister thought of Mr Berlusconi the PMOS said that the Prime Minister has worked with him and worked very well with him.

Child Protection Green Paper

Asked when the Child Protection Green paper would be published the PMOS said it would be published early after recess. It was a very important issue which the Prime Minister wished to be personally associated with. Asked why it couldn't be produced earlier the PMOS said that he would not get into the processology of it. Asked if the controversy over the appointment of Margaret Hodge as Minister for Children had any baring on the decision to delay the Green paper the PMOS said that the Prime Minister would be standing beside Margaret Hodge when the paper was lodged and underlying his strong support for the document. Put to him that it was extraordinary that the Prime Minister was taking over the new Minister for Children's job only weeks after she had been appointed, the PMOS said that was a very strange interpretation of events.