Press briefing from the Prime Ministers Official Spokesman on: PMQs, East-West Dinner, EU Future Financing and Norman Kember.
PMQs
Asked about the Prime Minister’s approach to Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) today following David Cameron’s comments about not wanting a Punch and Judy show, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the Prime Minister had prepared for PMQs in his normal way. There was no different approach today. Asked then if he agreed with David Cameron’s desire to get away from Punch and Judy, the PMOS said he would always like to use such occasions to inform the public and Parliament. He responded to the questions that he was asked.
Asked what the Prime Minister’s knowledge of David Cameron was and whether he had phoned to congratulate him yesterday, the PMOS said that he was not aware that he had. He was waiting to see what Mr Cameron’s approach was but it was not really for him to comment. Asked what the Prime Minister thought of the parallel drawn between himself and David Cameron, the PMOS said that he did not think the Prime Minister had a view. He would just take it as it came.
East-West Dinner
Asked whether the Prime Minister would be speaking or taking questions at the dinner, the PMOS said that the East-West Institute was handling the arrangements. For guidance the Prime Minister would be given an award, "Statesman of the Decade" and he would respond, but it would not be a formal speech. Asked if there were any plans to meet the Kosovan Prime Minister or Serbian President, the PMOS said there were no specific plans and we would have to wait and see whether they met informally at the dinner.
EU Future Financing
Asked if the Prime Minister still thought a deal was possible given President Chirac’s comments, the PMOS said, as he had yesterday, that we were in a period where we had tabled proposals. Inevitably there would be discussions and as was normal people would express their reservations because, as was normal in a Europe of 25 everybody could see how a position might be improved from their particular perspective. When we got to the 15 December people would have to choose between the reality of the possibility of getting a deal, which we believed was there, or holding out for their own ideal position. That was a choice people would have to make.
What we had tried to do was to get a deal, which met people’s main concerns. Whether we had succeeded or not people would judge on the 15 December. Obviously a large part of that consultation process would take place tomorrow and Friday when we met with a long list of countries coming through in that short period. Asked if there was any more detail on that list, the PMOS said that the meetings would start with Prime Minister Verhofstadt of Belgium who was coming at 8am tomorrow.
Asked if there were any plans to talk to President Chirac, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had spoken to the President in a phone call yesterday. If necessary they would talk again. This was an ongoing rolling discussion, and he stressed it would be a Europe of 25 that made the decision not one or two members. It would be a broad based decision. Asked for a flavour of the discussion, the PMOS said President Chirac had his view and was particularly concerned with defending the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Our view on the CAP was that there should be a mid term review. That was our approach and it would remain so. The French would set out their position.
What we believed we were doing was taking a realistic and practical approach to the budget. We did not pretend that we would not prefer a bigger deal that involved CAP reform. If that were not possible then we would try to achieve a deal based on the proposals that we had put forward including a mid term review. Asked if there were any plans to talk with Chancellor Merkel, the PMOS said that we kept in touch but, as they knew, she had recently visited and as such the Prime Minister knew her approach. We would also be keeping in contact with Germany in the run up to the Council.
Norman Kember
Asked if the Prime Minister was being kept informed of the Norman Kember situation as the deadline was tomorrow, the PMOS said that all along he had refused to comment publicly for very good reasons, as they could understand. He was going to keep to that and not comment on this matter. Needless to say we were following the issue very closely, but it was best that inquiries were directed to the Foreign Office who were heading this up in this instance.
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