Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Prime Minister, Parliament vote on war and Gaza
Prime Minister
Asked if there was any reaction to today’s front pages in the Telegraph and the Guardian about the Prime Minister standing down next year, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that the Prime Minister had a standard response to such stories. The PMOS said that he had checked the stories to see whether there was a single source, so a different response was needed, but since there wasn’t, the standard response stood: we were not going to comment on such matters.
Asked for any reaction to Margaret Beckett’s comments that she hoped that there would be an orderly transition, the PMOS said that what Ms. Beckett had said was a standard response.
Parliament vote on war
Put that Jack Straw had said that in the future, governments would not declare war without a vote in Parliament, and was that now a Government policy, the PMOS replied that was not quite what Jack Straw had said. The Prime Minister had set this out in the Commons at PMQs, and where possible, governments did consult Parliament. There were circumstances where very quick action was needed, or where the element of surprise needed to be retained. In those circumstances, clearly, it was not always possible to consult Parliament.
Asked if there could be a blanket rule on consulting Parliament, the PMOS replied that in military terms, there was sometimes a necessity and sometimes an advantage in retaining the element of surprise.
Asked if the Prime Minister would be happy to see an end to the arms race on party funding and to huge spending on campaigning, the PMOS said that the important thing was that there was a consensus, as Jack Straw said. Therefore, the best way to try and get that consensus was Sir Hayden Phillips’ committee, and Mr. Straw had said that he would put in his proposals.
Gaza
Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about the Gaza invasion, the PMOS said that first, the kidnapped soldier needed to be returned unharmed. Obviously, we were concerned about the situation, and as always, we urged for all sides to act with restraint.
Asked if we would have preferred the Israelis to have given diplomacy a greater chance, the PMOS said that the soldier needed to be returned unharmed, and the PMOS said that he was not sure that it helped for us to offer advice from the sidelines, other than people should act with restraint and we should allow politics to take hold. The soldier should not have been kidnapped in the first place.
Asked if that message had been conveyed personally to anyone, the PMOS said that he was not aware that it had, but we kept in regular contact with all concerned.
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