Downing Street Says ... Every day the Prime Minister’s Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as ‘the lobby’ for a topical chat, or ‘briefing’.

Every day the Prime Minister's Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as 'the lobby' for a topical chat, or 'briefing'.

Downing Street Says... is an unofficial site that lets you read summaries of these briefings and add your own comments. Want to know more?

» Friday, September 5, 2008

Energy

Asked about discussions with the energy companies and direct cash assistance, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) replied that the position was set out clearly by the Prime Minister in his speech yesterday. The focus of the discussions with the energy companies was on how we could reduce people bills not simply for one [...]

» Thursday, September 4, 2008

Economy

Asked for a flavour of the Prime Minister s speech this evening, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) replied that the speech would begin with an assessment of the global economic situation and would say how global economic turmoil was affecting every economy in every country; that the UK economy was better placed than it [...]

Prostitution

Asked if the Prime Minister backed Harriet Harman in her crusade to make paying for sex illegal, the PMS replied that Harriet Harman was a Government Minister and as such had the Prime Minister s backing. Asked to clarify if the Prime Minister was backing Harriet Harman in her job as Minister responsible for such matters [...]

Miscellaneous

Asked if the Prime Minister accepted that he had months to turn around his premiership, the PMS replied that he was not going to be drawn on any of the comments from Charles Clarke this morning, and referred journalists to his political colleague. Asked for a view on a story concerning publication of changes [...]

» Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Energy

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Nick Clegg that energy-generating companies were trying to blackmail the Government by appearing to be unwilling to fund socially beneficial schemes, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) said that there was a discussion taking place at the moment between Government and the energy companies; you would [...]

TUC

Asked if it was correct that the Prime Minister was not speaking at the TUC this year, the PMS replied that the tradition, as he understood it, was that the main speech alternated between the Chancellor and the Prime Minister; the Prime Minister gave the speech last year so it was the Chancellor s turn [...]

Stamp duty/mortgage financing

Asked if some sort of intervention in mortgage financing was likely to happen, the PMS replied that the Chancellor had announced back in April that Sir James Crosby would look at how we could make the mortgage market, especially the wholesale mortgage market, function more effectively. Crosby produced his interim conclusions in July and [...]

Northern Ireland

Asked about today s report on the current state of the IRA, the PMS said that he would not say anything ahead of the report being published; the report would be published at 1.15pm, and that would be followed by a press conference. original source.

Scotland

Asked for the Government s reaction to Alex Salmond s plans to replace council tax with a new income tax, the PMS said that it was a matter for the Scottish Executive. original source.

» Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Housing announcement

Put that the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) had previously said that taxation matters were for the Pre-Budget Report (PBR)/Budget and asked why a taxation matter had been announced before the PBR/Budget, the PMS said that he had previously said that those were matters for the Treasury and the Chancellor; the point at which the [...]

» Monday, September 1, 2008

Economy

Asked how the forthcoming series of announcements could be characterised, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) replied that the Prime Minister would characterise these announcements by saying that clearly we were facing a challenging international economic situation at the moment that was affecting the UK just as it was affecting other countries. We needed [...]

Russia

Asked what the Prime Minister was hoping for today on Russia, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had made his views clear in a comprehensive way in his article in the Observer yesterday. In his view it was vital that we sent a strong and united European Union message today, and we must [...]

Miscellaneous

Asked if Stephen Carter would be taking on a different role, the PMS replied that as we had been making clear over the past 48 hours when this sentence in one Sunday newspaper first appeared without any substance at all, we did not recognise this story. As he would normally do before any Lobby [...]

» Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Cabinet

Asked for details of upcoming Cabinet meetings, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that there would be a Cabinet meeting next week. He did not have any information on political Cabinet meetings. original source.

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.

» Friday, September 5, 2008

Energy

» Thursday, September 4, 2008

Economy

Prostitution

Miscellaneous

» Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Energy

TUC

Stamp duty/mortgage financing

Northern Ireland

Scotland

» Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Housing announcement

» Monday, September 1, 2008

Economy

Russia

Miscellaneous

» Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Cabinet

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