And so we say farewell to Liz Truss and Rory Stewart – both of whom were promoted in Theresa May’s reshuffle. Truss remains in the Cabinet and got the bigger job in Justice (never has a promotion been so unjust) and Rory Stewart is made Minister of State at International Development. Only George Eustice, the…
Tag: Defra
Truss misleads over waterfowl science
There is a very good article in today’s Times by Ben Webster with the headline ‘Lead ammunition to stay despite poisoning danger‘. Liz Truss, perhaps as one of her last acts, and indeed one of her first (as the least effective Environment Secretary ever), announced that people shooting birds for fun would not be required…
Why are MPs having a long holiday?
The Parliamentary recess at Westminster is from 21 July until 5 September – that’s a long time and was partly, a long time ago, so that MPs and peers could rush off to their grouse moors for some ‘sport’. This period, no doubt, won’t be one long holiday for MPs, just as it isn’t…
Time for a reshuffle then…
Who would you like as the next Secretary of State for Defra? Who would you hate getting as Secretary of State for Defra? Who do you expect to get as Secretary of State for Defra? I really find it very difficult to answer any of those questions. That’s why I thought I’d ask for…
Rory – will you do better this time?
I hope I’m not being too presumptuous in assuming that our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting is likely to get to 10,000 signatures fairly soon – after all it is already at 9645 signatures. If it gets to 10000 before 1230pm Friday, which looks very likely, then it will have reached that mark on…
Best and worst at Defra – what you think
There have been six secretaries of state at Defra since it came into existence in the wake of the foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001. Defra was born out of the thought that MAFF was too inward-looking and that farming wasn’t that important really but was a bit of a problem. Prime Ministers also…
Liz Truss – why are you suppressing the scientific evidence on lead?
It wouldn’t surprise me if Defra made a shockingly bad decision and failed to reduce the environmental risks of lead ammunition – they have been subject to energetic lobbying from the shooting industry and rather limp pleas from the two environmental NGOs who should be making the running (WWT and RSPB). It is clear that…
A bit of a round up
five MPs were treated to a day’s shooting by BASC, to the value of £772 each. The five MPs were the chair of the all-party shooting and conservation (ho! ho!) group, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP (Con, Cotswolds), Bill Wiggin MP (Con, North Herefordshire), Sir Edward Garnier (Con, Harborough, former Solicitor General), Graham Brady MP (Con, Altrincham…
Who do they follow? Liz Truss
Liz Truss is the Secretary of State at Defra and the MP for Southwest Norfolk. Her Twitter handle is @trussliz. She has 21,500 Twitter followers (including me) and follows 940 Twitter accounts (not including me). Ms Truss’s Twitter account gives little evidence that she is interested in the environment at all. She follows no national…
Who do they follow? Rory Stewart
Rory Stewart is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at Defra and the MP for Penrith and the Borders. His Twitter handle is @RoryStewartUK. He has 24,500 Twitter followers (including me) and follows 590 Twitter accounts (not including me). It’s sometimes amusing to stroll through someone’s Twitter follows. They are usually a varied bunch and…