Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Deputy Prime Minister and Troops
Downing Street press briefings explained
Deputy Prime Minister
Asked what meetings the Deputy Prime Minister would be having today, the Prime Ministers’ Spokesman (PMS) said that the Deputy Prime Minister would be working in Whitehall. He had chaired meetings with officials this morning looking at government business for the week and later today he would put out an update with DfID on the UK reaction to the Indonesian earthquake. The Deputy Prime Minister had been co-ordinating those efforts with DFID. As journalists knew he had also chaired a meeting on this over the weekend. Later in the week the Deputy Prime Minister would be going on a visit to look at a drugs rehabilitation project and on Friday he would chair a meeting of the British Irish Council on climate change.
Asked to confirm that the Deputy Prime Minister still continued to have the Prime Minister’s full confidence and whether as according to the Deputy Prime Minister’s official biographer that he had an assurance from the Prime Minister that they would go together, the PMS said that she would not comment on something that a biographer had written. On the first point, the Prime Minister still had absolute full confidence in the Deputy Prime Minister and in his fulfilling the role of the Deputy Prime Minister, which was to co-ordinate cross government business as had been set out clearly in his appointment letter published a week or so ago. Asked whether the Deputy Prime Minister would still be keeping Dorneywood, the PMS said that there had been no change to the current situation.
Put that the Mirror had reported that the Prime Minister would be meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister this weekend and that he would raise Dorneywood, the PMS said that she did not recognise the story. The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister were in contact on a regular basis, but she would not provide a commentary on every conversation they had. Put that the ODPM had placed in Parliament a staff handbook that said that improper conduct during work time was a disciplinary offence and was there any action being taken or needed against Mr Prescott’s former diary secretary, the PMS said that we had said all that we were going to say on that particular issue. Any personnel matters were a private matter and should be treated as such.
Troops
Asked, following the latest violence, whether the troop levels were sufficient, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had passed his condolences to the family and friends of the personnel killed over the weekend in Iraq. As we had also acknowledged repeatedly last week the security situation remained difficult in some provinces, including around Baghdad and Basra. We would continue to work with the newly formed Iraqi government to tackle that violence. Asked if there was also a need for further commitment in Afghanistan, the PMS said the journalist should look at the Defence Secretary’s media comments today.
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