Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Northern Ireland, David Blunkett’s Memoirs, Lancet Report, Prime Minister’s Questions and Abu Hamza
Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said the core issues of the talks were power sharing and policing. It was the two Governments’ view that the DUP and Unionists were prepared to share power with Sinn Fein. There were issues still to be addressed surrounding that, but the core principle we believed was that they were prepared to work together. It was also the two Governments’ view that on the core principle of policing, Sinn Fein were prepared to engage, as the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report had suggested. Again these details needed to be discussed and agreed. However, as in previous issues, there was a confidence issue to be addressed by both sides. We recognised that these were big steps for both sides to take. It was difficult to exaggerate just how big they were.
Whilst both sides, we believed, were prepared to move in principle, they also wanted to know that the other side was going to move at the same time, given recent history. The key issue for the Government was whether we could give both sides confidence in terms of moving forward on the big issues so that nobody would be left exposed. Hence, the issue was not so much the principle of power sharing and policing, but sequencing. It may well be that in the end it would be the two Governments who would have to make that call and if necessary we were prepared to do so by tomorrow. The other message that the Prime Ministers were giving to the two sides was that theses issues were not going to change. We recognized that they were difficult. We recognized how significant they were. However, as we had said all this week, it was time for people to make up their mind. They knew the consequences if we did not get agreement. But equally people knew if we crossed this river then we were in a completely different place.
Asked if the DUP and Sinn Fein were around the same table today, the PMOS said all parties participated in the plenary session last night. It was the first time the talks had been on camera - there was not a discussion but each party had set out their views. Today there were lots of different formats of meetings going on involving various Ministers talking about the details. That was not to underplay the importance of the detail. In terms of the policing and the power sharing issue, which was at the core of this, that was being driven by the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach in their meetings with the parties. Asked if this was the first time the DUP and Sinn Fein had sat around a table, the PMOS said they had sat around the same table when we went to Stormont for talks.
Asked if the Prime Ministers would come up with the best guess of what an agreement would look like, then give the parties a few weeks to consult, the PMOS said in the end we believed the two parties were prepared to move on the core issues. The key issue was the sequencing and getting the timing right, so that both sides believed that the other was going to move in tandem. We had always recognised that parties would have to consult. However, what we wanted to know tomorrow when we left here was where the parties stood. What we were not going to do was have another round of discussions that we were having now, this was not the staging post, this was it.
Put that the Prime Ministers’ would call a "take it or leave it agreement", the PMOS said he would say instead it was our best guess as to the way forward. It would be for the parties to say to the other sides whether they thought it addressed their concerns. He would try to outline what we believed those concerns were at heart. Asked if that opened the way for a second round of talks in London before November 24th deadline, the PMOS said we said we had no further plans for talks. The two Prime Ministers’ view was that the issues were not going to change. The parties had to make up their mind as to what their position was. They could go and consult and report back, but were not going to have another session like this.
David Blunkett’s Memoirs
Asked if the Prime Minister had suffered heart problems for fifteen years, the PMOS said we had dealt with this the last time he had gone into hospital, and he had nothing further to add. Asked why HM the Queen, Bill Clinton and David Blunkett had all suggested that the Prime Minister had told them something different, the PMOS said he had said what he intended to say at the time, and was not going to get into commentating on what other people thought.
Lancet Report
Asked what the Prime Minister’s view was on the Lancet report, the PMOS said we made our view clear first in 2004. We had made it clear again, but much more important was the view of the Iraqi government, which, as recently as October, had said that the Lancet report numbers method was far from the correct. The Iraqi health ministry was the place to get the relevant figures. The problem with this was that they were using an extrapolation technique, from a relatively small sample, from an area of Iraq which was not representative of the country as a whole. We had questioned that technique from the beginning and we continued to do so. The Lancet figure was a greater order of magnitude than of any other figure. It was not one we believed to be anywhere near accurate. That was not in anyway to downplay the seriousness of the security situation in Iraq or lessons to be learned in the wake of the tragedy of the deaths that had been caused. It was important to remember that the deaths were being caused by terrorists, not by the Iraqi Government or the international force.
Asked what the Government’s estimated death toll was, the PMOS said it was up to the Iraqi government to issue the death toll was. What people should recognise was that there was a democratic sovereign Government which we supported. Asked if the Government’s problem was with the methodology used or exclusively with the sample taken, the PMOS said the problem was with the methodology. The Iraqi Government questioned the figures and people should address their question to them. Put that the Lancet team were saying they used an internationally used methodology that the British government had approved elsewhere, for example in Kosovo, Rwanda, the PMOS said the British Government believed that the figures should be taken from the Iraqi health ministry, not anyone else.
Prime Minister’s Questions
Asked whether there was a change of practice for the Prime Minister in not mentioning the deaths of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan at PMQS, as it had not did not happened the day before, the PMOS said it was not a change of practice. It was a reflection of the period of time since Parliament last met. The Prime Minister did pay tribute generally. Asked whether if there were more tragedies next week we would revert back to the original practice, the PMOS said we all hoped there would not be. However, should there be, he did not anticipate any change of practice.
Abu Hamza
Asked repeatedly if the Prime Minister was concerned that Abu Hamza appeared to have brought a house for a quarter of million pounds cash despite having his assets frozen, the PMOS said the Legal Services Commission were looking into the circumstances of this individual case under the court order. Therefore it would be wrong for the PMOS to comment further on individual circumstances whilst the enquiry was progressing.
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