British Prime Minister meets with Jubilee 2000

British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, welcomed Jubilee 2000 leaders to Downing Street and praised them for their “great campaign”.

The meeting followed an all-night vigil staged by Jubilee 2000's London Network. Around eighty London supporters, many of them students, camped out from 9pm until 10.00am the next morning.

The meeting with the PM came as a last-minute surprise to campaigners. Chris Brice, a member of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition Board and vice -chair of the London Network, had been liaising with Downing Street, asking them to receive a statement delivered at the end of the vigil. Late in the day, Chris received a call from Number Ten telling him that the Prime Minister wanted to meet with campaigners and have a photo taken.

The Prime Minister met the 7-strong delegation in the lobby outside the Cabinet Room and congratulated everyone, calling Jubilee 2000 “a great campaign”. Jubilee 2000 Director Ann Pettifor invited him to put on a lapel chain, the campaign's symbol - which he agreed to do. After photos, he confirmed that he was determined to see this issue tackled at the G8 in Cologne and agreed that the current form of the HIPC initiative is not good enough. He added that he would have to get his fellow leaders to act too.

He then gave his visitors a quick tour of the Cabinet Room, and in passing, added that the debt issue is regularly raised `at the breakfast table' - as well as in the church where his family worships.

While this was not a meeting to discuss government policy or the campaign in any depth, the Prime Minister's willingness to meet demonstrates a growing commitment to action from the British Government - and its readiness to identify itself with the Jubilee 2000 Coalition.