The Tories Are Back - Have They Brought BSE With Them?

John Gummer MP
Tory Agriculture Minister 1989
During BSE Crisis

Oh just great! The Tories are back and frantically picking up where they left off  by tearing the very fabric of our society to bits! Not only are they attempting to privatise everything in sight from our precious woodlands, right through to our beloved NHS, our police, defence and other public services, they declaring war on the disabled, chronically sick, the elderly, the young, women, the unemployed and of course the much detested by Tories everywhere - public sector workers.

The "nasty party" is back, nastier, more self centered and egotistical than ever, however, this is not all, from Cameron down this particular brand of Tories seem to be more stupid than ever making a hash out of everything they do, with shocking gaffes on major policy after major policy and are lurching from one foreign policy disaster to another. it would seem that this entire administration of Tories appear to be suffering some kind of incurable "stupidity disorder". Not only have they returned nastier and more insensate than ever,  it would appear that upon their return the Tories may  have brought back to the country the potentially fatal "Mad Cows disease". Truly terrifying thought especially because if anything did become of this it could deal a potentially fatal blow to the British economy. This Tory government have substantially weakened and endangered an already fragile recovery with their asinine policies. I have a great fear that it just cannot withstand even the most gentle of breezes, let alone a full scale hurricane like BSE blowing in. I have been having "flashbacks" of 1989 and the then Conservative Agricultural Secretary, John Gummer MP  actually feeding what could have been infected beef to his 4 year old daughter in the form of a beefburger for the assembled TV crews and press, while announcing he has delayed a ban on British beef.

Last December (2010) a farmer was jailed for 10 months after being caught trying to pass off an older cow for a younger one. There is a ban on cows born before 1996 being sold for meat because there is a substantial risk of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) to humans. Questions we now have to ask if this is this a one off? I very much doubt it, it would be too much to believe that this particular farmer had been caught on his first attempt to pass off and older cow for a younger one and if he has been doing it, the problem is obviously more widespread. So it appears that along with the return of the Tories, we have a return of greedy Tory farmers "milking" the system and then selling their cattle on for meat, fully aware of the dangers of the  potentially fatal risks posed to human health.

How is government going to handle this? Indeed are they handling it, or are they simply ignoring just hoping it will go away? I, and I am sure that others would like to know if  the Government's scientists are investigating this and what if anything they have found. The Agriculture minister Jim Paice, has already admitted that others could be involved in similar scams and has said "there is no evidence that meat from older cattle had reached the shops, but it could not be ruled out". So here we have it, how long before France decides it is not going to trust our beef again and bans the import of our cattle? France just waits for any excuse to do this, it means more work and greater rewards for French farmers, it took a Labour government 10 years to sort out the mess the Tories left the British beef industry in, that is ten years before  we were able to convince the EU to lift the ban on British beef!

BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), otherwise known as mad cow disease, has mainly affected cattle in the UK, where millions of animals had to be destroyed in the 1990s.
This is very worrying and has the potential to become huge and if it does, how fit and competent is our Government to handle such a crisis? On their performance over the past 10 months, can anyone seriously say they have confidence in this Conservative-led government to do anything properly and efficiently?

Two Tory Prats Together
Dumb and Gummer

Footnote: John Gummer the senior Tory MP claimed £9000 per year gardening expenses and forced the taxpayer to pay hundreds of pounds to tackle wildlife on his Suffolk country home, with bills to remove jackdaw nests, combat insect infestations and an annual ‘rodent service’ contract. 
Despite claiming a total of £87,112 in second home allowance from 2004 to 2008, Mr Gummer maintains that he had one of the lowest overall expenses claims in the House.

Wonder if  Gummer has any "Mad Cows" grazing on his land other than Margaret Thatcher?