UK Govt on Smacking, Iran and Police Officers

Afternoon press briefing from 10 January 2006

Press briefing from the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman on: Smacking, Iran and Police Officers

Smacking

Asked about the Prime Minister's comments on smacking, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he had no comment to add. It was best that the Prime Minister spoke for himself on personal family matters.

Iran

Asked whether the Foreign Secretary's upcoming statement would be taking this any further, the PMOS told journalists that the Foreign Secretary would be underlining, quite rightly, the seriousness with which we viewed the latest development. He had said this himself this morning and the Foreign Secretary had also confirmed it in the Commons this afternoon. Jack Straw planned to meet his E3 counterparts shortly to discuss the matter. There would also be a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the matter followed, he suspected, by a Board meeting.

Asked if the Prime Minister was getting involved, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had set the tone for how we viewed Iran at successive press conferences. We were not in any way trying to downplay the seriousness with which we viewed what Iran had done. Mr El Baredei had spoken for the international community when he said that patience was running out. There was however a process and that started with a report to the IAEA. We had said in the past that we believed that there should be a referral to the UN, but the proper place to have that debate was at the IAEA Board meeting, which we looked forward to.

Asked if the Prime Minster had discussed it with President Bush in recent days, the PMOS said he was not aware that they had discussed it in recent days but this issue had certainly been a topic of conversation in recent months and he imagined it was a subject that would be part of the continuing conversation in the coming days.

Police Officers

Asked if the Prime Minister was happy that police officers were also working as window cleaners to supplement their salaries, the PMOS said that was a matter for the police authorities and the Home Office to deal with.

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