The decision to ban beef on the bone put Whitehall on the horns of
a dilemma. Leader writers and commentators showed consistent sympathy
for the financial ruin facing farmers and condemnation for the rush to
implement a ban. Broadsheets and tabloids united against agriculture
minister Jack Cunningham for his decision-making on the hoof. By an act
of gross mis-timing, the issue clashed with farmers’ protests against
foreign beef imports, forcing the Government ’off message’. Some saw it
as a further turn of the screw by metropolitan New Labour against rural
Olde England.
The need for the Government to take a more proactive stand on risk
assessment was not shared by all. That it was right to act quickly had a
fair showing but few writers chose to see it as purely exercising its
duty to protect the public. Matthew d’Ancona (Sunday Telegraph, 7
December) put the ban in the context of European politics; pointing out
that it relieves immediate pressure on the Government to put British
beef back on the tables of Euro-gastronauts.
Evaluation and analysis by CARMA International. Cuttings supplied by The
Broadcast Monitoring Company. ’What The Papers Say’ can be found at:
www.carma.com
