Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Sutton Report/Immigration, Iraq/Al Qaida and Euro 2004.
Sutton Report/Immigration
Asked how the Government would respond to the management failures in the Home Office as identified by the Sutton report today, the PMS said the report showed that there had been significant failings in terms of how the European Community Association Agreement (ECAA) applications had been handled. A great deal of work had already been done to improve the operation of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND). The Home Secretary would be taking further action to ensure that such a situation could not happen again. The PMS added that Mr Blunkett would be holding interviews this morning in which he would comment directly on the report.
Asked if the Government would consider ending disciplinary procedures against so-called ‘whistleblowers’ in the light of the Sutton report, the PMS said that it would not be appropriate to comment on disciplinary issues involving Foreign Office personnel for obvious reasons.
Iraq/Al Qaida
Asked the Prime Minister’s view of the relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida, the PMS said we had always acknowledged that Saddam had created a permissive environment for terrorism and that people affiliated to Al Qaida had operated in Iraq during his regime. The Prime Minister had always made it clear that Iraq under Saddam had been a rogue state which threatened the security of the region and the world. Asked if those Al Qaida affiliates operating in Iraq had been doing so with the tacit knowledge or active endorsement of the regime, the PMS said she understood that the questions being raised today were the result of a report released in the US by an independent Commission investigating the September 11 attacks. Consequently, matters directly relating to these issues should be put to those concerned. Put to her repeatedly that the Government had never suggested the existence of a direct link between Saddam and Al Qaida, the PMS agreed. She was simply making the point that the Prime Minister had always regarded Saddam’s Iraq as a rogue state and that we had known that affiliates to Al Qaida had been operating in what had been a permissive regime. Asked why she was suggesting that there was a link between Saddam and Al Qaida when there wasn’t one, the PMS said that she was doing no such thing. She was merely setting out what the parameters had been.
Euro 2004
Asked if the Prime Minister had sent a message to the England team ahead of their match with Switzerland later today, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had sent a message to the team last weekend in which he had wished them luck in Euro 2004. Asked if the Prime Minister was intending to watch the game, the PMS pointed out that he would be attending the European Council in Brussels. However, he would no doubt receive regular updates as the match progressed.
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