Briefing from the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: Jim McGovern’s Resignation, Afghanistan, Iraq, economy and misc
Jim McGovern’s Resignation
Asked for a reaction to Jim McGovern’s resignation, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that the question of the resignation was probably best directed to a political colleague. On the issue of Royal Mail, Lord Mandelson set out the Government’s position in his statement yesterday.
Put that Jim McGovern had said that it beggared belief that the Government thought that the best solution was to have a foreign company take a stake in Royal Mail, the PMS replied that as Lord Mandelson had pointed out yesterday, the status quo was untenable, the service was under threat and the choice that we faced was either downgrading that service or acting now to turn things around and secure Royal Mail’s future. The recommendations put forward in the Hooper Review included a partnership with an existing operator, which could help bring about the changes that Royal Mail needed.
Asked if the Prime Minister was confident he could get a vote through on this, the PMS said that the Prime Minister and Lord Mandelson were convinced that the recommendations in the Hooper Review were based on sound argument and they intended to make that argument in the weeks and months ahead.
Put that Jim McGovern had been a member of the Government who had objected to Government policy and why was this considered a party issue, the PMS said that Jim McGovern had set out his position and we had set out ours.
Afghanistan
Put that if Barack Obama asked the Government to send more troops to Afghanistan then presumably it would have to consider that request, the PMS said that the position on Afghanistan was as the Prime Minister set out in his statement on Monday.
Iraq
Asked when there would be an inquiry into the Iraq war, the PMS replied that the Government had already had a number of inquiries on issues around both the death of David Kelly and the reasons for the war in Iraq. Asked which inquiry had dealt with the reasons for the war, the PMS said that we had had the ISC Inquiry, the Hutton Inquiry and the Butler Inquiry.
Put that none of those had covered the reasons for going to war, the PMS said that the Butler Inquiry had looked at the use of intelligence, which formed part of the basis of an argument for the war in Iraq. This was the public argument that we deployed in the dossier.
Asked when the right time would be for an inquiry, the PMS said that as we had set out in the past, we did not believe that it would be right to have an inquiry while our troops were still engaged in operations in Iraq.
Economy
Asked if there was any reaction to the American reduction in interest rates, the PMS replied that as people knew, monetary policy was for the Bank of England. Put that Barack Obama had expressed the concern that if interest rates came close to zero, monetary policy became ineffective and did the Prime Minister share this view, the PMS said that as the Prime Minister had made clear in the past, we would do all we could to get the economy through this difficult time and to help businesses and families. That included a range of measure, one of which was a fiscal stimulus.
Put that the Governor of the Bank of England suggested that a greater stimulus or a further package might be needed, the PMS replied that the Chancellor had set out the Government’s response in full.
Put that Tony McNulty had said that we had not reached the bottom of the bad news in regards to employment and how much worse did the Government anticipate it was going to get, the PMS said that he would not be forecasting unemployment. The PMS added that the point Tony McNulty was making was that the statistics had a degree of lag to them as they referred to a previous period. More broadly, the Government’s economic forecast was set in the PBR.
Misc
Asked if people could expect a statement on the car industry today, the PMS advised people not to anticipate one. Asked whether legislation on the working week eventually had to go through the European Council, the PMS said he would have to check on the matter.
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