Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Education, Downing Street ‘Economics Unit’, Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi and Iraq/WMD.
Education
Asked about the Prime Minister’s speech on education later today, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that it was a party event and he was therefore unable to brief on it in detail. That said, the Prime Minister’s general message would focus on the need to ensure that schools had both the resources and independence that were necessary to be successful.
Asked to confirm reports that the five-year education plan would be launched tomorrow without any consultation with local councils, the PMOS said that the Government was constantly in consultation with LEAs, schools, teachers groups and parents, as you would expect. Asked if he was implying that Sandy Bruce-Lockheart, the LGA vice chairman, had been lying this morning, the PMOS said that he wasn’t suggesting anything of the sort and advised journalists not to put words in his mouth. As he had said, there was a continuous process of consultation on all educational matters with a wide range of bodies.
Downing Street ‘Economics Unit’
Asked for a reaction to reports that Downing Street was intending to set up an ‘Economics Unit’, the PMOS said that he would file this story under the same category as Jackie Ashley’s story yesterday. It was wrong. Asked if a proposal to set up an Economics Unit in Downing Street separate to the Treasury had been put to the Prime Minister, the PMOS said that the story was not only wrong, but it was also rubbish. He couldn’t be any clearer than that.
Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
Questioned about Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s attendance at a conference in London, the PMOS said that the Home Office Minister, Fiona MacTaggart, had made it clear that she would be writing to the organisers to say that she was disappointed by their misleading use of her photograph to publicise the event when they had known that she would not be attending in person and to underline her dismay that a good cause had been turned into a broader political issue by making Dr Al-Qaradawi a guest of honour. As a result, she would not be sending a message of support.
Asked to explain why Dr Al-Qaradawi had been allowed into the UK, the PMOS said that everyone had to abide by the law. As the Home Secretary had underlined in his Today Programme interview this morning, we would be monitoring what Dr Al-Qaradawi said very closely. Asked if the Government would reconsider its decision to grant him entry to the UK in the light of the fact that he had been banned from both the US and Egypt on the grounds that he had links to the Muslim Brotherhood organisation and possibly terrorist groups, the PMOS said that all cases such as this were kept under constant review, as you would expect. The Home Office had said that it would monitor what Dr Al-Qaradawi said while he was here. On a wider point, the Home Secretary had been expressing today the reasons why we wanted to extend the legislation on religious hatred. All these factors were relevant.
Iraq/WMD
In answer to questions about the Prime Minister’s remarks about WMD at the Liaison Committee yesterday morning, the PMOS said that as the Prime Minister had underlined at the start of the questioning, we knew two things: firstly, that Saddam Hussein had had WMD and secondly, that we had not yet found any stockpiles. He had then gone on to set out a range of possible explanations as to why that was the case. The truth, however, was that we would only have a better idea once the ISG presented its report - and even then, that might only be an indication rather than a final assessment. Put to him that this was the first time the Prime Minister had said that the WMD might have been destroyed, the PMOS pointed out that he had said ‘might’. The bottom line was that we did not know at this stage. If we did, we would obviously tell people. Asked who would make the final assessment if the ISG report would only be an indication, the PMOS said that it was important to wait for the ISG report in the first instance rather than speculate about the process further down the road.
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