Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, football and misc.
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill
Asked if the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Bill was now a Government Bill and if everyone would be expected to vote for it, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that that was correct and had always been the position.
Asked if Catholic Cabinet Ministers would find other business when it came to the vote, the PMS replied that, as the journalist had said, it was a Government Bill.
Put that the Prime Minister had said today that he held his own religious views and asked what those views were, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had previously said yes when asked if he believed in God, which was in an interview by the Independent just before he became Prime Minister. As far as the PMS was aware that was the most recent on the record statement that the Prime Minister had made about his religious views and that he had never sought to make it a public issue or to claim that that had influence on his politics.
Football
Asked if the Prime Minister would be watching the game and if so who with, the PMS said that the Prime Minister would almost certainly watch the game in the flat in Downing Street after the IOC event but that he was not sure who he would be watching the match with.
Asked which team the Prime Minister was supporting, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister was a Raith Rovers supporter, so like most neutrals he was looking forward to a great game.
Asked who was representing the Government in Moscow, the PMS said that it was Andy Burnham and Gerry Sutcliffe.
Asked if the Prime Minister had a view about whether or not Joey Barton should be allowed to carry on playing football after his release from prison, the PMS said that he had not heard the Prime Minister express a view on that subject and had not asked him.
Misc
Asked for details on the Prime Minister’s meeting with International Olympic Committee (IOC) members, the PMS said that the meeting was part of the IOC Coordination Commission’s visit to London; it would be a cross-party meeting to demonstrate the cross-party support for the Olympics. The meeting would include the key members of the IOC, the Mayor of London, David Cameron, Don Foster (who will be attending instead of Nick Clegg) and Tessa Jowell. There will also be a reception for around 150 people, including the full IOC Coordination Commission, sports people, London 2012 organisers and Government representatives.
Asked why the Prime Minister was not meeting the Dalai Lama at Downing Street, the PMS replied that, as had been said on numerous occasions, the Prime Minister was meeting the Dalai Lama in his capacity as a spiritual leader. As far as we were concerned the important issue was the substance of the meeting and the fact that the meeting was taking place at all; on the two previous occasions when the Dalai Lama visited the UK he did not meet the then Prime Minister at all.
Put that Yvette Cooper and Caroline Flint were meeting with mortgage lenders today and asked if the Prime Minister was concerned that rates had not come down despite moves to improve liquidity, the PMS said that it was correct that a meeting was going ahead and that it was best to speak to the Treasury and DCLG on the specifics. The PMS went on to say that mortgage lenders had welcomed the injection of liquidity at the time and that the latest data suggested that there had been some easing of conditions since that intervention, but you also had to compare that against the counterfactual.
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