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No. 10 Afternoon Press Briefing From 7 Nov 2007

Briefing from the British Prime Minister's Spokesman on: Lord Drayson, Counter-Terrorism, Bank of England, Inheritance Tax, Jobs and Flexible Working

Afternoon press briefing from 7 November 2007

Lord Drayson

The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) began by telling the assembled press that Lord Drayson would be taking leave of absence from the Government to pursue an opportunity to compete in the US Le Mans motor racing series. It was an unforeseen opportunity that had arisen from his success in coming second in this year's British GT championship.

Lord Drayson was a committed motor racing fan and he had been given a unique opportunity to compete in the US Le Mans series next year, which was apparently the next step towards being able to qualify for the actual Le Mans series, which was a long-held ambition of his. The PMS went on to say that there was an exchange of letters between Lord Drayson and the Prime Minister that set this out in detail.

Lord Drayson would be replaced as Minister for Defence Equipment and Support by Baroness Ann Taylor. Lord Drayson was also jointly a Minister at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR.) Lord Bach would be returning as a member of the Government as a Lords Whip, supporting BERR's business in the House of Lords, with Pat Mcfadden handling the regulatory brief at BERR.

Put that British troops had been saying that their equipment was not of a sufficient standard and was this connected to the fact that Lord Drayson had been spending too much time motor racing, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister in his letter, had set out the many achievements of Lord Drayson in Government and most people in the sector and elsewhere would accept that Lord Drayson had been a very good and very committed Minister. But because this unique opportunity had arisen and he did not think it could be combined with his Government responsibilities, Lord Drayson had decided to take a leave of absence.

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Asked if taking a leave of absence meant that Lord Drayson was guaranteed to come back to his old job, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had said in his letter that he looked forward to Lord Drayson's return to Government when his leave of absence ended, but to make it clear, Ann Taylor had been appointed on a permanent basis as the new Defence Minister. Put that people did not know how long Lord Drayson would be away for, the PMS confirmed this and added that the Government was not necessarily saying he would come back to his old job, merely returning to Government.

Asked if the phrase "leave of absence," referred to the House of Lords rather than the Government or did it refer to both, the PMS replied that Lord Drayson would continue to be a supporter of the Government in the House of Lords. Asked if Ann Taylor would continue to be paid as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary still, the PMS replied that she would be.

Asked if Lord Drayson was paid while he was a Government Minister, the PMS said he was unpaid. Put that it was an extra salary now, the PMS confirmed that it would be, but added that people should bear in mind that the number of paid Minister's was the same as it was since the formation of the Government at the end of June. The reason for that was that Lord Evans had left the Government, Baroness Farrington had given up her salary and Baroness Morgan would now be paid as a Baroness in waiting rather than a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. What that meant was that in total, the number of paid Ministers was the same as it was at the end of June. Asked if there was any connection between the people giving up their salaries and the Lord Drayson decision, the PMS said they were separate decisions. Lord Evans had left several weeks, if not months ago.

Asked if Lord Drayson had a Government car and was he behind the wheel, the PMS said he assumed that Lord Drayson had a Government car but would not continue to do so once he had left the Government. The PMS advised people to check with the Ministry of Defence as to whether Lord Drayson drove the car or not.

Counter-Terrorism

Asked if the Prime Minister had any view on how long terrorists should be held without charge, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister's view was the Government's view, which was set out very clearly in July. Based on the trends that had been emerging in terms of the time needed to collate all of the relevant information, the Government believed that there was a case for going beyond 28 days in future. The document that the Home Office published on the 25th July 2007, set out a number of options and one of those options was to legislate to extend the current limit beyond 28 days. That was described as the Government's preferred option. The Prime Minister in his statement to the House on the 25th July, said that the Government was proposing for consultation this option, which would be an extension of the current limit of up to 28 days more, or a lesser period.

Put by the BBC that Jacqui Smith was not aware of that this morning, the PMS said that Jacqui Smith did know that, but he had been given more of an opportunity to answer the question by his BBC questioner than Jacqui Smith had by hers that morning. The Government's position on the subject had not changed and it was as set out in the Home Office consultation document and the Prime Minister's statement on the 25th July.

Put that Jacqui Smith had said that she'd like to see post-charge questioning for offences other than terrorism and if that was the Government's position, what sort of offences were being considered, the PMS said that he did not think Jacqui Smith was saying anything new. Put that Jacqui Smith mentioned the figure of 58 days that morning, the PMS made clear that 58 days was a different proposal that had been put forward by Liberty and others. Jacqui Smith had been saying that there were a number of maximum dates in the public domain; one was up to 56 days, which was the Government's preferred option. The alternative was the Liberty proposal where as he understood it, the Government could declare a state of emergency and it could last for 30 days beyond the 28 days, the current extension period, which was how the figure of 58 days would be reached.

Put that people were assured that 90 days were needed to question people and why was it now a matter of 56 days, the PMS replied that the Government was trying to find a consensual position on the subject. Clearly there was a discussion that people wanted to have, as to what the right number might be. The Government had said that there should be a maximum limit and Jacqui Smith had reiterated that this morning. In the Government's view, there was a case for going beyond 28 days, but as was said in July, the Government was consulting on a proposal that would take the maximum limit up to 56 days.

Put that all sides were talking about how the process had to be based on evidence and would any be forthcoming, the PMS said that he assumed people had read the Home Office consultation document, published in July, which had set out the increasing trends on the amount of information that was necessary to process in a number of terror cases in recent times. Put that none of the evidence specifically targeted an extra 28 days, the PMS said that it had set out and explained the complexity of some of the recent cases. The PMS offered to go through the facts and figures, but added that it was set out quite clearly in the document.

Asked if the police had asked for post-charge questioning to be extended to other non-terrorist crimes, the PMS said that he did not know the answer to that and that people should check with the Home Office.

Bank of England

Asked if the Prime Minister had regarded the Governor of the Bank of England's recent comments as helpful, the PMS said that he had nothing to say on the matter except that as had been said repeatedly, the Prime Minister thought that the Governor of the Bank of England was doing a first rate job. Asked if he expected the Governor to be re-appointed, the PMS replied that there would need to be a process in relation to re-appointment, but repeated that the Prime Minister thought that the Governor was doing a first rate job. Put that the Governor had pressed hard for legislation on deposit guarantees and had the Governor suggested this when the Prime Minister had been Chancellor, the PMS said he did not want to get into talking about internal Tripartite Committee discussions.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought it was a rational response by Northern Rock savers to queue up and withdraw their savings during the Northern Rock crisis, the PMS replied that as the Government had made clear at the time, people were entitled to do whatever they liked with their money. These were decisions that were taken by individuals. The key point was that the Chancellor took decisive action in order to stop the run on Northern Rock.

Inheritance TaxAsked if there was any update on inheritance tax documents being released if an FOI request was made, the PMS said that it would have to be considered and there was no update.

Jobs

Asked if the slogan "British jobs for British workers" would continue to be used by the Prime Minister, the PMS said that the Prime Minister thought, for the reasons that he had set out in his speech to the TUC in September, that there were 600,000 vacancies in this country; there were a number of arrangements in place with Job Centre Plus which focused on British nationals and there were agreements in place with large employers to help find jobs for those people.

Flexible Working

Put that Bev Hughes had suggested in the past that flexible working should actually be extended to all workers and were the Government considering taking that course of action, as there was a risk of childless people taking the burden of people with families, the PMS said the Government wanted to take action in order to help hard-working families and it's position was set out yesterday.

Asked if the Government would look at helping out hard-working single people in the long run, the PMS asked people to take the matter step-by-step. At the moment the Government had introduced a statutory right to legislation for parents with children under six and it was consulting on how to extend that to older children.

ENDS

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