Number 10 Press Briefing - Morning From 2 December 2010
From the Prime Minister's spokesperson on: World Cup, cold weather and Linda Norgrove.
World Cup
Asked whether the Prime Minister had met all 22 of the FIFA voting committee, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that the bid team had been meeting all the relevant representatives.
Asked whether the Prime Minister was confident of success, the PMS said that the Prime Minister was confident about the strength of the bid but that the outcome was too close to call.
Asked to react to comments by Ed Miliband’s spokeswoman regarding the Prime Minister in Zurich, the PMS said that the bid team had made every effort to secure the World Cup, and that the Prime Minister had made the bid a priority because securing the World Cup would be a great thing for the country.
Asked whether the Prime Minister was concerned that violence at the football match between Birmingham City and Aston Villa could affect the bid, the PMS said that we had come a long way in stamping out football disorder, and said that the latest Home Office statistics published on Monday showed football-related disorder had fallen again over the past year.
Cold Weather
Asked whether the Prime Minister was happy with the country’s preparations for the winter weather, the PMS said that we were much better prepared than last year, that the Government had been implementing the recommendations in the Quarmby review and as a result were more resilient to an extended cold snap.
Asked whether it was acceptable that half the country was at a standstill, the PMS said Phillip Hammond had said he had asked David Quarmby to audit where we are and see if there is anything more we could do. The PMS said that there was always going to be some disruption during an extended period of cold weather but that we needed to ensure everything was being done by Government, local authorities and transport operators to ameliorate the effects on passengers.
Asked when to expect further recommendations from David Quarmby, the PMS said that it was intended to be a quick audit to see if there was more that could be done now.
Linda Norgrove
Asked who had been carrying out the investigations into the death of Linda Norgrove, the PMS said that both UK and US military personnel were involved in the investigation, and that the names of those senior officers had previously been put into the public domain.