Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Afghanistan, Palestinian Elections, Truth, Education White Paper and Home Office Statistics
Afghanistan
Asked if there had been a decision on numbers of troops being sent to the area, the PMOS said that a decision had been taken on the operation on Afghanistan, which included numbers.
Asked if there had been any discussion on Iraq, the PMOS replied the discussion was about Afghanistan, and the PMOS said he was not going to pre-empt in any way John Reid’s report to Parliament. What was important was to recognise the overall context of the operation, because it was not just a military one, as it was an operation to reconstruct Afghanistan in terms of its physical, political and civic infrastructure. That was why this had been very carefully co-ordinated between not only the MOD, but also DFID and the FCO.
It was also important to build on what we had done in Afghanistan, and to prevent a slide back towards the Taliban, and all the implications of that. We all understood that. We also had to recognise the importance of Afghanistan in terms of the drugs war here on our streets. The PMOS said that 90% of heroin sold on the streets came from Afghanistan. As John Reid had said, everybody recognised that this was a tough decision, but he would set out his thinking further when he reported to the House.
Asked if the Prime Minister was satisfied by NATO’s support, the PMOS said it was better that John Reid dealt with those kinds of issues in the House.
Asked if the decision was specifically about sending extra troops to the south of Afghanistan, the PMOS replied that there were separate operations in the ARCC operation, and the proposed operation; they were two separate operations.
Palestinian Elections
Asked what the reaction was to the Palestinian elections was, and would we be willing to work with a Hamas government, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that first of all, people should wait for the full election results. In terms of Hamas, the Prime Minister had set out a position very clearly earlier this week in his press conference where he said that whilst we recognised electoral mandates, equally people had to be clear that we could only do business with those who renounced terrorism. That was the key distinction: did people support terrorism, or did they not?
Truth
Asked how important did the Prime Minister think it was for people in public life to tell the truth, the PMOS said he thought he knew where the question was going, and he was not going to go down a party political route. The PMOS said the Prime Minister believed it was important that people told the truth.
Education White Paper
Asked what could be made of the interpretation from the Prime Minister’s words at PMQs that he had agreed to implement the Education White Paper in full, the PMOS replied that one should be wary of over-interpretation.
Asked further on the Education White Paper details, the PMOS said he was not going to get drawn into a hypothetical exercise in responding to Select Committee reports that was not even out yet. The Prime Minister had said what he had said in the White Paper, and people should wait and see what the Select Committee had to say, and go from there.
Asked if the Prime Minister would see that he would like to "meet the mood" of the House by making some compromises, the PMOS said again that people should wait and see what the Select Committee report said.
Asked if it was true that the Prime Minister’s mood had "hardened" over recent days, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister had stated his mood very clearly on Monday, and that was where he was at.
Home Office Statistics
Asked what did the Prime Minister think about the Home Office statistics that showed that violent crime and robbery were on the increase, the PMOS said that what the journalist had left out that overall crime had continued to go down. There were, as we had recognised, particular issues and concerns of those categories which were being dealt with. The PMOS said that in terms of public discussion, it did not help to produce statements that did not recognise that overall, crime continued to decrease.
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