Downing Street denies Blair's TV "Pope a Catholic" admission
20 Nov 2006 by Peter Placeserver
Labour spin doctors went into overdrive last night to rebuff claims that the Prime Minister had made a straight acknowledgement of the blatantly obvious.In an interview with ageing broadcaster Sir David Sugar-Frosting, Mr Blair appeared to concede that German-born Cardinal Josef Ratpoison, 98, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, was "Catholic".
But Downing Street insisted his views had been misrepresented and that he was "simply acknowledging the question in a polite way before going on to avoid it". A statement issued late yesterday said that the remarks had been taken out of context: "It's very clear that when the Prime Minister said 'yes' he of course meant 'no'. This has consistently been his position."
Efforts are being made to minimise the damage and prevent the episode turning into a PR debacle. "This is not the correct time to be debating the catholicity, or otherwise, of the Pope," said a Downing Street spokesperson. "At the appropriate juncture an independent committee will be appointed by the PM to carry out a full and thorough inquiry into the exact nature of Cardinal Ratpoison's religious convictions. It would be unwise to pre-empt that."
The spokesperson was not prepared to comment on whether the putative inquiry's remit would extend to investigating the defecatory habits of bears.
