Ms Cathy Herbert:

I think so, and I think that, for that reason, that the incorporeal meetings aren't ... are rarely used but the Minister would have spoken to both those Ministers and the Government press secretary. But, you know, maybe ... perhaps the anxiety to keep our negotiating position ... you know, to keep our powder dry, overruled the subtleties that should have been given in the message that we were exploring, but it was very, very difficult. If you ... if you say that explorations are taking ... or discussions are taking on it ... taking place at official level, particularly with the level of briefing that was taking place on that Saturday, you know, you're railroaded very quickly into a situation of finding it difficult to say ... to hold your position that discussions ... that the Government hadn't entered negotiations, which was true, the Government hadn't entered negotiations, hadn't yet made that decision.