In Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesday the Prime Minister said that he wants all government departments to be departments for growth. The Agriculture Department should be promoting British food, apparently.
Sounds like a good idea perhaps, except you don’t have an Agriculture Department PM – you don’t even have a department with agriculture in its title. Maybe you were thinking, briefly and inaccurately of your Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Or maybe the PM of the ‘greenest government ever’ cannot any longer think of the environment, talk of the environment or bother with the environment?
Surely it would have been better to wait a while before announcing the knighthoods for a bunch of sacked Ministers including Jim Paice. This blog feels glad for Jim and his very witty and amusing wife but feels that it would have looked more like an honour and less like an integral part of a compensation pckage if there had been a few weeks delay. It must be good news for the thousands of Defra civil servants, NE and EA staff and the members of various now-extinct quangos that they will, no doubt, soon be offered honours beyond their dreams for facing complete loss of their jobs rather than demotion to the back benches. The ‘all shall have honours’ announcement is eagerly awaited.
[registration_form]
Yes, I noticed it too. The UK media, even even the BBC , has been assuming for years that the “E” in DECC stands for “Environment”, and that Defra is the “countryside” ministry; but, when the PM raises the ghost of MAFF it definitely spooks me.
Shows how out of touch the PM and conservatives are with their green claims, no doubt the farming industry is over the moon.
Talking of honours for civil service staff, this week hard working, top performing NE staff have recieved bonuses for 11/12, flat rate £250 or very exceptionally £750. Suppose it’s a nice gesture to reward those who deliver real gain and much welcomed given current pay freezes. Interesting to note however that executive directors have recieved a £13k performance bonus, additional to their £100k+ salaries. Check out thei anual report and finances for details. Nice to know Andrew Wood has been rewarded for his ‘dedicated’ environmental work with sorting Walshaw and writing a public document that’s not a public document. I guess the moto is “were all in it togeather”!
Most political commentary on the reshuffle suggested that the PM’s priority was to appoint MPs with the ability to communicate, and those who weren’t up to (his or George’s) lost their jobs. In other words, he wanted Ministers who can talk the talk but not necessarily walk the walk. For an individual who’s sole experience of the working world prior to winning the Witney constituency was working in PR, perhaps no one should be surprised?
How ironic therefore that the PM fails to meet his own communication threshold…unless of course the threshold was set by George?
From Defra’s perspective, they now have a Minister who is seemingly anti-environment. Imagine having an education minister who doesn’t seem to know anything about education…oh, hang on…!
“… they now have a Minister who is seemingly anti-environment.”
It wasn’t all that long ago that we had a Minister who was seemingly anti-farming and thought that we were such a rich nation that we could afford to import all our food. At weekends she blocked roads with her caravan.
I note that Mary Creagh – Shadow Secretary of State for Agriculture/Defra tweeted:-
“Cameron told Spelman she was too old to be Defra secretary at 54. He replaced her with Owen Paterson, 56. Women voters will remember this”
A carefully worded denial by No.10 stops short of claiming that Cameron did not say this – http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/caroline-spelman-too-old-claim-denied-by-downing-street-8112677.html
Reshuffle definately gives the impression that if you stand up to George Osborne expect to be fired. Not sure this is the best outcome for Cameron or the country.
Matt = thanks. And it will be noted by 54-year old men too (at least by this 54 year old man).
Elsewhere:
James Delingpole in The Telegraph: “What Cameron is probably hoping is that Paterson will be neutered by the grotesquely Europhile civil servants in his new department which is utterly in thrall to all manner of EU directives.
But Paterson is a man of principle and a fighter and may prove much more reluctant to be trampled on than was his chocolate fireguard of a predecessor, Caroline Spelman. He is pro fox hunting; pro shale gas; pro free markets; he is anti wind farms; anti gay marriage. The kind of sound Tory MP you almost feared they didn’t make any more.”
There’s more
James Delingpole in The Spectator: “The stench from the wind industry and its many leech-like hangers-on is overpowering and it’s a disgrace that so few people are speaking up for the thousands of victims affected by it. But I am. I hereby announce my intention to stand in the Corby by-election as the anti-wind farm candidate. Not in my back yard. And not in yours either!”
The silly season isn’t over yet – could get entertaining …
Filbert – interesting.
I applaud James Delingpole’s intention to stand in my constituency. He will make a Labour victory more likely. If he stands, it will put a spring in my step as I carry on pushing leaflets through letterboxes for the excellent local candidate Andy Sawford.
What a Carry On
I feed some of my older cows (and an old horse) separately – from the others – Any remaining seed – and there is always some – is eaten by some 8 -10 crows and a singleton cock pheasant.
When I call my older cows and the crows appear from nowhere and alight on the stone walls awaiting the delivery of their breakfast / dinner.
I have identified the ringleader!
I thought I’d refer to ‘things ornithological’ whilst you bang on about politics!
According to Farmer’s Grauniad: Conservative hereditary peer with a background in farming has been announced as the third new Minister at Defra. Baron de Mauley, of Canford in Dorset, has been appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, replacing Lord Taylor, who moves to the Home Office.
The bloke with the screwdriver and mugshots must be up and down like a bride’s nightie. I bet he can’t wait for the fat lady to start up …
Good chaps those Whigs !!
As the sole founder of the now de-registered ‘Humanitas’ UK Political Party I know how difficult it is run a political party without compromising one’s beliefs – some (?) of today’s major parties don’t seem to concern themselve with ‘honour’ even though they continually refer to each other as the ‘right honourable …..’ ;
Shame really ….
Its hardly surprising Defra civil servants are Europhile when you remember (if you ever knew in the first place) that half the CAP money comes from Brussels, half direct from the UK. Of course, we pay it all in the end because we pay into the EU. MAFF started out largely as a vehicle for direct Treasury subsidy to farming to ensure we never faced wartime starvation again, actually a pretty good idea at the time, morphed into the vehicle for CAP then morphed (only superficially) into the Defra we know today. I suspect most farmers would be Europhile, too, if you threatened to cut off half their single farm payment.
I think a more accurate term for Defra civil servants might be “Euro-compliant”. This could also apply to farmers in the SPS. Lurve might have nothing to do with it.
For a time in the 50s my father worked at MAFF in the White Fish Authority, collating catch returns submitted by Fishery Inspectors who counted fish at the quayside markets. As far as I know, he didn’t particularly like fish, even though he had some degree of authority over them.
Well maybe Mark it was a slip of the tongue and the Government are in fact thinking of creating a Min of Ag to replace Defra in a year’s time? It would certainly change the paice at Defra! (wish I had thought of that joke earlier)
Pete – ha ha! Thanks for that.