Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Tessa Jowell, Ken Livingstone, Education, Power Report, Women and Work and Reshuffle
Tessa Jowell
Asked if the Prime Minister gave his full support to Tessa Jowell, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied: yes.
Put that as the Prime Minister was the sole arbiter of the Ministerial Code, had he asked anyone to look into whether Ms. Jowell had "fallen foul" of it, the PMOS said that as people knew, Tessa Jowell had said at the weekend that she believed that she had not done anything that conflicted with her interests as a Secretary of State, and that she had kept within the Ministerial Code. Clearly, Tessa Jowell, as she had been throughout, would continue to discuss the matter with her Permanent Secretary to ensure that she kept within the Ministerial Code and that her understanding of it was correct.
Asked if this all referred to the payment received and about her husband, the PMOS said that ever since she had become Secretary of State, she had referred to her Permanent Secretary in relation to her private matters.
Asked if she had specifically consulted about this matter, the PMOS replied that Tessa Jowell continued to take the position that she had not broken the Ministerial Code as a result of her continuing conversations with the Permanent Secretary. That was the normal right and proper thing to do.
Asked when was the Prime Minister first aware of the latest allegations, the PMOS said that the latest allegations were published on Sunday in the papers, and they were dealt with by Tessa Jowell in her statement.
Asked if the Prime Minister took Harriett Harman’s view that the situation was taking on the appearance of a "witchhunt", the PMOS replied that he was not going to get into the game of giving adjectives to the story. The important thing was that Tessa Jowell had stated her view, and there was a legal case going on in Italy. That should be allowed to carry on.
Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned on a personal level that personal friends of his were seemingly victims or pawns in the middle of an "unpleasant" Italian General Election, the PMOS replied that there was an investigation going on in Italy, and it was also a fact there was a General Election.
Asked if the Permanent Secretary was surprised to hear about the mortgage loan, or was it something Tessa Jowell had briefed her on a while ago, the PMOS said that it should not strike people as anything out of the ordinary that a Secretary of State should keep their Permanent Secretary informed of relevant matters. It was what every Secretary of State did.
Asked what did the Permanent Secretary know about, the PMOS said he was not going to get into a running commentary on discussions. The important thing was that Secretaries of State did talk to their Permanent Secretaries to ensure that what they did was within the Ministerial Code.
Put that Tessa Jowell had actually told the Permanent Secretary some time beforehand about the loan, the PMOS said he was not going to get into a running commentary. Tessa Jowell had made her statement, and she had spoken to her Permanent Secretary to make sure that she stayed within the Ministerial Code.
Put that Tessa Jowell believed that she had not breached the Ministerial Code, and was that to say that there was still a debate about whether she had or not, the PMOS said that that was what Tessa Jowell’s statement had dealt with.
Asked if the PMOS was saying that there was no case for a Cabinet Secretary inquiry, the PMOS said that he believed that Teresa May had written to the Cabinet Secretary, and that he would respond in his own time and in his own way.
Asked if that was the way it worked, with Cabinet Secretaries responding to Tory requests or vice versa, the PMOS said that Teresa May had written to the Cabinet Secretary, and he had no doubt that the Cabinet Secretary would respond.
Put that the role of Permanent Secretaries was clear with regards to conflicts of interests and therefore he seemed to be saying Tessa Jowell had been cleared, the PMOS said he did not want words being put into his mouth about what the view of a Permanent Secretary was, rather, he was simply stating what had been a fact. Tessa Jowell had talked, and continued to talk to her Permanent Secretary about these matters, as was the appropriate thing to do.
Asked again if Tessa Jowell had kept in touch every step of the way, and therefore, had the Permanent Secretary agreed that she had not breached the Ministerial Code, the PMOS said he was not going to speak on behalf of the Permanent Secretary as that was not his role. Rather, as with every Secretary of State, it was the right thing for them to keep their Permanent Secretary informed of such matters.
Asked again for clarity that Tessa Jowell had said that she had not broken the Code, and she had cleared that with her Permanent Secretary, the PMOS replied that Tessa Jowell, as all Secretaries of State should do, had kept her Permanent Secretary abreast of such matters.
Asked if they had had conversations to make sure that she had not broken the Ministerial Code, the PMOS said that those discussions were perfectly proper.
Put that it was notable that the PMOS was not saying that Tessa Jowell had not breached the Ministerial Code, the PMOS said it was not for him to make that judgement.
Put that someone must have already formed that judgement, therefore the PMOS could tell journalists if that judgement had already been taken, the PMOS replied that it was a matter between the Secretary of State and the Permanent Secretary.
Put that the PMOS had told journalists that Tessa Jowell had made that judgment, and that she had discussed that judgement with her Permanent Secretary, and unless the Permanent Secretary and Tessa Jowell had reached different conclusions, then therefore, she had the Permanent Secretary’s backing, the PMOS replied that he was simply stating the facts. The facts were that Tessa Jowell had said that she did not believe that she had broken the Ministerial Code, or that there had been a conflict of interest, and she had continued to keep her Permanent Secretary informed of such matters.
Asked, again for clarity, why the PMOS was not telling people when that conversation with the Permanent Secretary started, ie, whether it had started in relation to the recent controversy, the PMOS said again that he did not give running commentaries, but it was a fact that Secretaries of State should keep Permanent Secretaries informed of such matters.
Asked again about the conversation, the PMOS replied again that Tessa Jowell had kept her Permanent Secretary informed of relevant matters.
Put that it was a fact that the arbiter of whether a Minister had broken the Ministerial Code was the Prime Minister, but the Prime Minister did not see any reason to look into, as he took the words at "face value", the PMOS said that the Prime Minister acted on advice and always did so on such matters.
Ken Livingstone
Asked if the suspension of the Mayor for four weeks meant that he was unnecessary to run London, the PMOS replied that in terms of the decision on Friday, he had nothing further to add.
Put that there were reports at the weekend that the Prime Minister had sent a message to Ken Livingstone that said that the sentence was excessive, the PMOS said he was not aware of the message.
Asked if the Prime Minister had a view on the suspension, the PMOS said that a process had happened and he had nothing further to add.
Education
Asked if the Prime Minister was involved in any way in the Education Bill’s preparation, the PMOS said that he was involved today in the seminar today with the local authority leaders. It was an opportunity for them to set out their view of the issues and measures contained in the White Paper.
Power Report
Asked what the Prime Minister’s view was about the Power Report, the PMOS said that there were many issues dealt within the Power Report. They were all matters that were debated as much within Parties as between Parties. People took different views about some of the issues contained in them. The Prime Minister had no doubt that the report would add to that debate.
Women and Work
Asked that if the Prime Minister was committed to fair dealings with women in the workplace, why didn’t he pay Meg Munn a salary, the PMOS replied that throughout the period in Government, since 1997, there had been 19 unpaid Ministers, of which 15 were male. Therefore, it was a matter of Government organisation, and not one of gender. The important thing was that we did something about the overall issue, which was why Tessa Jowell had been given the role of Cabinet Champion to produce an action plan within six months to come out of today’s report.
Reshuffle
Asked if it was known when, or who, the new Cabinet Minister for Social Exclusion might be, the PMOS said that it would be decided at an appropriate time.
Asked if there were plans to replace the junior Transport Minister who recently resigned, the PMOS replied that again, it was a matter to be considered.
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