Morning press briefing from 26 February 2010

Briefing by the Prime Minister s spokesman on: Kabul attacks, PM statement on Aung San Suu Kyi, GDP figures, Iraq Inquiry, Khyra Ishaq, Portsmouth, twitter, Binyam Mohamed and Election Speculation

Kabul attacks

The Prime Minister condemns today’s suicide bomb attacks in Kabul in the strongest possible terms .Outrages like this will not prevent the successful conclusion of the international efforts to return Afghanistan to peace and stability.

PM statement on Aung San Suu Kyi

I am appalled and saddened that Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal against the sentence imposed by the regime has been denied. That failed appeal is sadly no surprise. From start to end, the sole purpose of this show trial has been to prevent Daw Suu Kyi from taking part in elections.

In my open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi in December, I said that this should be a historic year for Burma. Free, fair and genuinely inclusive elections would allow the country to move forward, to map a new path. But while she is kept out of political life and while over 2100 other prisoners of conscience remain incarcerated, the regime’s elections will not gain recognition nor international legitimacy.”

GDP Figures

Asked if today s upward revision was a sign that the economy would do better than expected this year, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that the Prime Minister thought it was welcome that we had seen an upward revision, but he also knew that there was no room for complacency. The most important thing was that we continued to support the recovery.

Asked whether this increased the confidence inside No10 that the UK would not full back into recession, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister s view was that we had to continue to support the recovery. There were always challenges in any recovery but this was a promising sign.

Asked if the Prime Minister could see green shoots, the PMS said that this was positive news but the Prime Minister saw this in the context of a recovery that was still in progress.

Iraq Inquiry

Asked if the Prime Minister was looking forward to his appearance and had he started preparing for it, the PMS said that the Prime Minister welcomed the opportunity to appear in front of the Chilcot Inquiry. The PMS said he was sure the Prime Minister would be preparing for it as he did with any such appearance in front of an external body.

Khyra Ishaq

Asked if the Prime Minister had had any contact with social services or was taking a personal interest in the case, the PMS said not that he was aware of. The Prime Minister was as shocked as anyone by this appalling case and had been briefed by ministerial colleagues on it.

Portsmouth

Asked about Portsmouth going into administration, the PMS said that it was deeply regrettable if the club did go into administration, but this was a matter for individual clubs and the HMRC.

The issue of sensible rules and governance had been raised by Andy Burnham during his time at DCMS and we remained concerned that fans and communities on whom football clubs like Portsmouth are so dependent should not suffer because of the inability of clubs to manage their finances properly.

Asked if the HMRC should be showing more flexibility towards football clubs, the PMS said that it was not for him to comment on HMRC; the important thing was the clubs themselves managing their finances properly.

Asked if the Prime Minister had taken an interest in the issue, the PMS said yes, the Prime Minister was following this closely.

Twitter

Asked if any Downing Street tweets had been hijacked, the PMS said it was a matter of concern if tweets were being used inappropriately and were being used to offend people. We would be double-checking that all tweets sent from No10 were properly protected.

Asked if any No10 tweets had been hacked, the PMS said he did not know; we regularly reviewed the security of our electronic forms of communication.

Binyam Mohamed

Asked for a reaction to the Binyam Mohamed ruling, the PMS said that the Home Secretary would be issuing a statement on this and he would not be commenting before that statement.

Election Speculation

Asked if the Prime Minister would be visiting The Queen this weekend, the PMS said no he was not.

Asked if the Prime Minister was to call an election would he still appear before the Iraq Inquiry, the PMS said that was a purely speculative question. The PMS said that it was his understanding that the Prime Minister remained Prime Minister during the course of an election campaign.

Asked what the Chilcot Inquiry s position was, the PMS advised people to speak to the Chilcot Inquiry.

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page22619

seen at 07:34, 27 February in Number 10 » News Stories.