Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Guantanamo Bay, Ruth Kelly and the Prime Minister
Guantanamo Bay
Asked if the Prime Minister shared Lord Goldsmith’s disapproval of Guantanamo Bay, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he would simply refer journalists to what the Prime Minister had said at his monthly press conference, where he once again talked about why he believed that Guantanamo Bay should be put on some sort of proper judicial footing. That had been his position all along. Asked if he thought it should be closed, the PMOS said that, as the Prime Minister had said on Monday, there was a genuine dilemma in that the United States had good reason to believe that these people posed a threat and therefore to simply release them was not a practical solution. However there should be a proper judicial process. Questioned further, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had always said that it was an anomaly and there should be a proper judicial process in place.
Ruth Kelly
Asked if the Prime Minister would consider changing Ruth Kelly’s role in terms of being in charge of equality given her views on gay rights, the PMOS said that the short answer to that question was no. Ruth Kelly had said repeatedly yesterday that she was committed to the equality agenda and to fighting discrimination of any kind in the workplace. It was a matter that she led on when she was in the Cabinet Office and there was no question of her absolute commitment. She had also expressed a belief and support for the collective responsibility principle in Cabinet and she fully supported Government policy.
Asked to explore what was meant by the use of the term collective responsibility, given that she had voted against Government policy on adoption by same sex couples, the PMOS said that Ruth Kelly fully recognised that it was Government policy and therefore she supported it. Put to him that she had voted against it, the PMOS said that as Ruth Kelly had said yesterday it was a well accepted principle that on issues such as this people could express their views in the Commons, but once it became Government policy if you were a member of the Government then you fully supported it.
Asked if it was possible to be committed to equality if you thought that one section of society were sinners, the PMOS said that was getting into people’s individual beliefs and what was more important was whether Ruth Kelly supported Government policy which she did. Asked if her views had been overlooked during the reshuffle the PMOS said that her views had been well known when she had become Education Secretary, and thus it was hard to say that they could have been overlooked on this occasion. Asked if the Prime Minister had sympathy with the broad range of Ruth Kelly’s views, the PMOS said that it would be entirely wrong to set the Prime Minister up as a commentator on an individual’s personal views.
Asked if the Prime Minister believed with Ruth Kelly’s assertion that people who wanted to protect their own private space should be rooted out, the PMOS referred journalists to what he had said on this matter yesterday.
Prime Minister
Asked for a reaction to remarks by John Denham that the Government seemed more out of touch with the voters than ever, the PMOS said that it would be entirely wrong for him to comment on John Denham per se, he was entitled to his views. However he would simply say that the Prime Minister had been elected a year ago on a program of reform. That program of reform covered areas such as education, the health service and protecting this country from threats such as terror. On all those matters the Prime Minister believed that he was reflecting the public’s concerns, both to improve public services as well as invest in them and equally to protect this country from terrorist threats. Some people had difficulties with that and the Prime Minister recognised that but he believed that that was what the public wanted.
Put to him that despite what the Prime Minister had said at his press conference it had been the Labour party which had been elected rather than the Prime Minister since we didn’t have a presidential system, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had been the person who was leading the Labour party at the time of the election and the public were well aware of that.
Asked about the Prime Minister’s mandate to serve a full third term, the PMOS said that the on the night he announced he wouldn’t stand for a fourth term the Prime Minister had set out that he would make the necessary arrangements for a transition, therefore people could be in no doubt about his position on that. Put to him that the Prime Minister might serve a full third term with his possible successor serving as Deputy Prime Minister for the last 18 months, the PMOS thanked the journalist for the opportunity to add to the vast amount of speculation on this subject. He would however have to decline. It was important that we should just get on with the normal business of Government.
Asked if the Prime Minister thought that it would be helpful for his successor to have some sort of democratic legitimacy, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister believed that normal parliamentary process should be allowed to take place. However, at the moment, his focus was on the here and now.
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