Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Northern Ireland, Iraq, Iraq/EU-US Relations and Euro/Reshuffle.
Northern Ireland
Asked for an update on Northern Ireland and whether the Prime Minister had any plans to visit the province, the PMOS confirmed that the British and Irish Governments had received a statement from the IRA and had studied it carefully. While it clearly represented progress, they had now asked the IRA to clarify a number of questions arising from it. The Prime Minister and Taoiseach both continued to believe that we could move to the final implementation of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) if there was sufficient clarity and certainty from all sides. At the moment we were focussing on the substance rather than any notional travel plans.
Questioned as to whether the Prime Minister might travel to Northern Ireland today, the PMOS said he didn’t think it would be helpful to start predicting timeframes because it was necessary to wait on the response of others before any judgements could be made about if and when. Questioned further about timescales, the PMOS said that as we had underlined from the outset, time was short. That remained the case. However, we did not believe it would be helpful to start imposing artificial deadlines because that would increase the pressure that already existed. Put to him that the window of opportunity for the Prime Minister to visit Northern Ireland was closing as a result of the impending Easter break, the PMOS said that we would have to wait and see how things panned out. The position at the moment was that we had asked the IRA to clarify a number of points that had arisen from their statement. We were still awaiting a response.
Questioned about the possibility of publishing the Northern Ireland ‘blueprint’ without the necessary clarity from the IRA, the PMOS said that we wanted see clarity and certainty from all sides. Given we were still in the process of fairly detailed discussions, that position had not changed. Asked if the problem was with the language of the IRA’s statement, the PMOS said that while progress had been made, equally there were issues which we needed to explore and clarify. Language was important as we had always acknowledged. As we had said from the outset, we considered clarity and certainty to be so important because the only way the process could move forward was by all sides having confidence. That was as true today as it had been at the start of the process.
Iraq
Asked if the Prime Minister believed that the Russians had been spying on him during a conversation he had with Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy, the PMOS said that he had read the reports in the papers. Our priority at the moment was to work with our international partners on reconstruction and humanitarian issues. That included Russia.
Iraq/EU-US Relations
Questioned about the Greek Presidency’s desire to focus on the issue of repairing EU/US relations during the European Council in Athens this week, the PMOS said we had never hidden the fact that there was a fundamental disagreement among the fifteen EU member states regarding military action in Iraq. However, as the Prime Minister had pointed out, had the ten accession countries been included, the majority of the EU would have supported the stance we had taken. Obviously there were a number of issues which we were going to have to address. In the debate prior to the commencement of the campaign, the Prime Minister himself had acknowledged there were issues relating to the EU, UN and trans-Atlantic relations which would have to be dealt with. That dialogue was now beginning. Pressed as to whether the issue would be discussed at the European Council, the PMOS said that he was unable to point to anything on the agenda at the European Council that might focus on this issue to the exclusion of others. It was clear that the international community needed to put aside its differences and focus on working together on the humanitarian, political and reconstruction issues. As the Prime Minister had underlined throughout, with good will and common sense, it should be perfectly possible to navigate our way through some of the tricky issues facing us and work in partnership.
Questioned about the Prime Minister’s meeting tomorrow in Hanover with Chancellor Schroeder, the PMOS said that the meeting had been set up last Thursday. It was no secret that there was a difference of opinion between the UK and Germany regarding the military conflict in Iraq. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister believed that we needed to work together to move forwards. Asked to explain how the Prime Minister had been able to find the time to go to Hanover when he had said that he didn’t have time to go to St Petersburg over the weekend for talks with President Putin, President Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder, the PMOS said it had been agreed last week that it would be helpful for the Prime Minister and Chancellor to meet. Given the three-hour signing ceremony at the European Council for the accession countries and other competing demands on leaders’ time, a stopover en route had been considered to be a sensible idea.
Euro/Reshuffle
Referring to reports in a number of papers this morning regarding the UK’s status in relation to the Euro and a possible reshuffle, the PMOS said we were resigned to the fact that we had to deal with these stories from time to time. Usually they were printed in the Sunday papers or Sunday for Monday. This morning we had seen a conflation of the two. He said it was important for everyone to calm down. These stories were obviously fed by the people who fed them, not the people who knew what was going on or who were involved in the detailed discussions. Asked if he was implying that Peter Mandelson did not know what was going on, the PMOS said that he was referring to the speculative reports published in this morning’s papers, not to interviews.
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