You may have missed it but I knew you would want to know. According to yesterdays Daily Telegraph the Tory MP, Mark Hoban, asked in Parliament how much it had cost to display photographs of DEFRA secretaries of state at its London HQ over the last five years. During that period, may I remind you, three politicians have held the top job there - Margaret Beckett, David Miliband and Hilary Benn.
Jonathan Shaw, a current junior minister at DEFRA, replied that the cost of updating the displays over the period had been £11,000. Further, that the present posters are shortly to be replaced by electronic alternatives "which are cheaper to update and have less impact on the environment". So thats alright then. Although I would have thought they would get a better deal at Boots.
Isn't it great to know that DEFRA's funds are being so well spent! That despite the £300mill fine imposed on the department by the EU for incompetence over the administration of Single Farm Payments and the resulting cuts in research, compensation for imported animal diseases and other vital departmental activities ministers can still find the funds to massage their own ego's.