Good Afternoon everyone and a warm welcome to Prime Minister John Howard from Australia.

Now before I say what the outcome of our talks has been together, I know you would want me to say a few words obviously on what has happened over the last few hours, and I hope you will forgive me if I say to you that it is best for operational details to go to the police and the emergency services and others that can give you the information. I obviously heard about this, as you probably did, when I was in the middle of the lunch meeting with the Prime Minister. I have then taken the Cobra meeting at 2.30. I have just spoken to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner again now. He I think has issued a statement which I think will be published shortly, and his hope is that things now can get back to normal again as quickly as possible.

We can't minimise incidents such as this, because they obviously have been serious in the four different places, as we know. I think all I would like to say is this, that we know why these things are done, they are done to scare people and to frighten them, to make them anxious and worried. Fortunately in this instance there appear to have been no casualties. The police have done their very best, and the security services too, in the situation and I think we have just to react calmly and continue with our business as much as possible, as normal. And following the meeting with the Prime Minister now and this press conference, I will go back to the schedule of meetings I had, since the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has indicated that both the police and the security services are now fairly clear what has happened and what the next steps are. And as I say, we hope that we can get the rest of the transport system back up and running again as soon as possible. So that is really all I can say on that at the present time.

If I could also just genuinely, and my apologies John for having interrupted so much of our discussion today, but fortunately we have had an opportunity to catch up on things. I would like first of all if I might to thank the Prime Minister, and also the Australian people, for their kind condolences on what happened two weeks ago today, their sympathy and their solidarity which, as ever, has been immense and also hugely appreciated by us here. And I know there was at least one Australian victim of the terrorist attacks a couple of weeks ago and this scourge of terrorism is one that we all face together. But Australian has been a particularly extraordinary, and strong, and indomitable ally of ours over these past few years, and both in Afghanistan and in Iraq we work closely together, but also in our bilateral relations across the whole range of security issues our two countries are immensely close. This is a relationship that isn't just built on the large numbers of Australians that come here, and Brits that go to Australia, it is also based on I think common values, a common determination and strength to stand up for what we believe in, and we could have a no more secure or sound ally than Australia, and we are very grateful for all your help and support in it.

And our bilateral relationship is actually in extremely good shape. We are working closely together. Elsewhere in our city at the moment there is a bit of competition going on, but we will leave that to one side for the moment. But it is really very much a relationship that this country values, and therefore we are always delighted to see you here. Welcome. I am sorry our discussions together have been interrupted in the way that they have, but I know that you will understand.

Mr John Howard:

Well thank you very much Tony. Can I say immediately what I said to the Prime Minister on the telephone two days after the attack on 7 July, that the entire Australian nation felt for the people of Great Britain, and particularly for Londoners. There is no city in the world, after our own, that Australians have more affection for, more identification with and a great sense of history about than the city of London. I can say to you Prime Minister publicly what I said privately, and that is that Australia sympathises with support and will remain steadfast with Britain in pursuit of the common values and common causes that we have. Terrorism is the enemy of all free people. Terrorism is not just about individual circumstances and individual events, terrorism is about the perverted use of an ideology for evil intent and for evil objectives. And those who think that terrorism is incident-specific misunderstand the mind and the workings of the minds of terrorists.

And we felt for the people of Britain. We were not as Australians spared death in that attack. I say in relation to the latest incident that the determination of the British people to continue with their daily lives is something that we have always seen as one of the great characteristics of the people of this remarkable country, and I want to say to you Prime Minister that wherever events take us, you can be sure that the common values that we have will remain, and Australia will remain a friend, a steadfast partner and a nation that shares the values that I know are very important to the people of Britain.

Might I also say in relation to these recent events that the response of the services in London and in Britain have been quite remarkable, and we Australians have been greatly impressed with the determination of the British people to get on with life. The terrorists want otherwise, and the best answer to terrorism is always to carry on unperturbed by their activities and by that demonstrate that defiance of terrorism. I had an opportunity of a briefing from the Australian police contingent that came here recently and they reported to me in some detail of the comprehensive response of the British emergency services, and Prime Minister you can be very proud of the way in which your police, your ambulance services, your hospital services and all of those responded. And in that respect I have asked the Prime Minister, and he has agreed, that in an appropriate time in the not too distant future the people with specialist knowledge of London's response to the attack on 7 July will come to Australia and have a look at the services that we have and if there are any suggestions that can be made, if there are any things that we can learn from the London experience - and I am sure there will be. Be it remembered that over a period of 20 - 30 years there were some 300 IRA initiated incidents in the city of London, and sadly the people of this city have had to deal with this sort of thing a great deal in the past.

On other matters, as I say, I agree with the Prime Minister that the bilateral relationship is in excellent condition. I congratulated him on London's victory for the Olympic Games of 2012, I think I sent him a note congratulating him, but I did have a cautionary element which said that that would be enough English victories for the time being. But nonetheless can I simply say that the experience of having the Olympic Games is great for any city, and we having had them in Sydney fairly recently and will of course, if there are any experiences from that, they are readily available.

The other matters we canvassed related to the trade issues that the world faces, we talked about Iraq and Afghanistan, we remain committed in both cases. Afghanistan is an important battle ground against terrorism, so is Iraq, and nobody should imagine that the terrorists would be other than absolutely delighted if there were a faltering of will in Iraq, and we share common objectives and common goals, but most importantly of all, 8.5 million people defied the most terrible intimidation to vote in Iraq on 30 January and that is a cause that is worth supporting, and a cause worth fighting for.

Prime Minister, I am as always delighted to be in London. Thank you for your hospitality. You have been extremely gracious and generous with your time, given the other demands that you have, and I can only say again that Britain's friends in Australia are many, and genuine, and we remain with you in the challenges that our free societies face at this particular time.

Question:

Could I ask the Prime Minister, after the Cobra meeting today, whether any new decisions flow from that in any sense. And also, following today's incidents, what you would say directly to all those people who may be thinking actually I am not going to go into London, I am not going to visit London, or I am not going to travel through London?

Prime Minister:

First of all, no, there are no decisions of a policy nature that arise out of what we heard. And I stress to you again, this is just in the last few hours, I really don't know anything more than you know about it at the present time, except that I think the police and security services have got the situation well under control and we hope to get it back to normal as quickly as possible. I think what I would say is this, and I think that the spirit of London and of Britain was represented again this morning when people came together in Trafalgar Square, and I saw the headline in the Evening Standard is about London United, and that is how people are and that is how I think they will stay. Now of course we will give people whatever information we c

[1] [2] [3] 下一页