Sources have told us that there could be a cabinet reshuffle on Friday. There are rumours that Hilary Benn may be removed and possible be replaced with Ed Miliband. There is also talk about Jeff Rooker being keen to step down because he's so fed up of the job.

If Hilary Benn were to be moved I think many in the industry would say it would be a relief. There's growing concern that he doesn't understand the bigger picture - the industry is trying to talk to him about stepping up global production but he's still focused on problems in Africa. He talks alot of scaling up production but doesn't seem to have any answers and his approach is contradictory. ie he wants to reintroduce some kind of set-aside next year. He's shown indecision over the TB/badger issue and been a bit of a disappointment all round.

The departure of Rooker is more of a worry. I can see why he might want to go - he is believed to be particularly frustrated over the Tb issue. But over the past few years he has been a good friend to farming and the loss of his knowledge and expertise would be disappointing.  

I doubt anyone will be sorry to see Benn depart into deserved obscurity.  Rooker will more of a blow, as probably the only real friend farming has had in the decade of this current government.  What little I've seen of the opposition's conference so far does not fill me with confidence that we will have better friends in an incoming Cameron government.  What would be better for us over the remaining months of this administration would be to break out DEFRA's constituent parts again and give the food/farming/animal welfare portfolio to Jeff Rooker as a cabinet post.  What would be even better for us in Wales would be for all residual DEFRA powers in our territory to be transferred to the much more sympathetic Assembly department.

The Sunday papers seemed to be suggesting there was a group of cabinet ministers who would resign from the front bench rather than take a demotion in any reshuffle - I'll bet Benn isn't one of them!

Isabel,

        Sniping aside how do you shuffle a damned Idiot.All one does is to locate the Idiot in another Box, one still has the Idiot.

According to the BBC Benn is now staying despite speculation he was going to move. Yet to hear about Rooker.

Worse, it looks like they are bringing Mandelson back in as 'business secretary', whatever that is.  So we can expect things to get significantly worse for the farming industry as someone who has spent the last few years selling our interests down the river will not have any sympathy.  It is interesting that a government with the lowest rating in decades can think they can restore their credibility by bringing back someone with Mandelson's history of dodgy dealing, poor performance and self-seeking greed.

We are live blogging the developments on this page here: Worth keeping an eye on it for the minute-by minute developments.

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2008/10/03/112483/hilary-benn-keeps-defra-job-in-cabinet-reshuffle.html

Political blogger Guido Fawkes has made me smile. He says that by bringing back Mandelson, Brown has ensured he is no longer the most hated man in politics  

Nice move Mr Brown, it will make you and the rest of your failed commies even more unpopular. How can these so called egalitarian socialists have this guy back in UK politics without him being elected by popular mandate?? Are they taking the **** out of the British electorate or are they so arrogant that they think we will not notice.

Dick

I don't know about whether Lord Rooker is staying on yet but like everyone else here I hope he stays. The fact that the industry shares his frustration and those in the industry value him should be conveyed to him somehow.

I see Nick Brown is back in 12 Downing Street in the Whip's office. Interesting.

I guess Ma Beckett back as minister for housing makes sense.  We can't afford to build more houses and she is an expert on caravans - obvious appointment really!

who is the hell is ED MILIBAND for godden sake, i should say kick out all labour politics out of agriculture, they do nothing for this industry, they drive farmers out of agriculture   now i'm going to hold my breath

well of course nick brown is back as the whipping boy, well they have brought mandy back, why do you think gary glitter was let back int country, I would not be at all surprised to learn that he gets a job as childrens minister, well i ask you, that is how rediculous this government have become nothing should surprise us really

Looking at what has happened since the reshuffle I can't help but wonder if we are going back to the future. If responsibility for climate change has been taken from DEFRA then it leaves it concentrating on food, the environment and rural affairs which strikes me isn't all that far away from MAFF.

And Hilary Benn announced yesterday that he was appointing policy advisers - from farm to fork. To be called The Council of Food Policy Advisers, the team will include expertise from every sector of the food chain. It will guide government on food affordability, security of supply, environmental issues and contribute to the drawing up of a policy for food security and supply to be published later this year.

Isn't this a bit like the old farmer panels that MAFF used to have? Nothing in this world is new.

I think this policy advisor thing is a positive step for the industry. There was a perception by the Government that MAFF was too "farmer-centric" and to easily influenced by the industry, particularly by the NFU and CLA. Its replacement by DEFRA had an element of trying to get a department that is more consumer focused. There has perhaps a bit of confusion in this with some thinking that being pro-consumer means being "anti"-farmer. Certainly at the EA (though this is not strictly part of DEFRA) there has been this concern and there is a culture of this among some senior people there, there is a very great antipathy, even hostility, among some senior operatives at the EA towards farmers.

Farmers are businessmen in the private sector but they (indeed we, as I am one) are also largely responsible for the environment on their holding and the wider environment generally. Therefore we have to assume a greater accountability to the public for what we do. SFP and ELS/HLS also add greatly to this argument. However, whether or not the balance was as wrong as it was perceived at MAFF, being pro-consumer does not mean opposing farmers' interests. The new group of policy advisors will certainly help the industry and allay any concerns, real or imagined, that DEFRA does not address the industry in a balanced way.

Are you old enough to remember MAFF, Isabel?   But seriously, if Benn is taking advice from experts in the food chain then that is better, I suppose, than taking no advice at all. I suspect much depends on who the experts are.

I'm a bit shocked that the three new DEFRA junior ministers are all townies...

Jane Kennedy is from Liverpool

 Phillip Hunt is from Birminhgham

 Huw Irranca-Davies is from Swansea

 ???

Just poking around the TheyWorkForYou site entries for these jokers suggests they have little or no history of any parliamentry interest in farming or rural affairs, except that Jane Kennedy is a rambler.  My guess is right now they will be being heavily lobbied by the usual suspects from the veggie, animal rights and enviro-nutty sub-cultures.

Perhaps we should give them time to settle in to their new roles, but the past history of this administration's approach to our industry and way of life does not leave me feeling so generous.

Their backgrounds don't inspire much optimism but we may yet be surprised. Nick Brown followed Jack "The Enforcer" Cunningham at MAFF. The Enforcer seemed openly contemptuous of the industry and all of those employed in it, yet when Nick Brown was demoted from Govt Chief Whip to become Minister for Agriculure he actually admitted he knew nothing about farming but wanted to learn. Brown was subsequently sacked "because of FMD happening on his watch" but FMD wasn't his fault. He may not have been perfect but who else in his Party would have been better? Margaret Beckett who replaced him? Yeah, right!

The only minister who has actually been any good for our industry from the current Government has been Lord Rooker. My point is though that we may be surprised to find that one or more of the new people may be more inclined to be open minded towards our industry in the way Nick Brown was in spite of his urban industrial constiuency background, rather than the opposite like the Enforcer or just plain useless like Margaret Beckett.

I tend to be pessimistic and expect the new junior ministers to be influenced in the way townie has suggested, but I hope the optimistic alternative I suggested in the previous paragraph will happen.

Here's living in hope

I was under the impression that Trading Standards followed everything from farm to fork ( well, thats what I was told during an inspection visit the other day! )

Lord Rooker will be  loss to the industry, he has made an effort to understand the business of farming.

one of his main advantages is that he did not have to worry about voters and could thus put forward his views with out looking over his shoulder at the ballot box.

Having met the shadow tory minister recently i am in dispair as what will happen to us if they get in, and he maintains he is a farmer.