Downing Street was yesterday forced to contradict the Environment Minister, Mr Michael Meacher, after he unexpectedly outlined details of a public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth crisis.
A public inquiry would "unquestionably" be held and would look into the increase in animal movements and explore issues such as putting more emphasis on organic farming and local production practices, Mr Meacher explained.
But his comments prompted confusion over whether the government was actually announcing a public inquiry and hours later the Prime Minister's spokesman said no decision had been taken on the scope or format of an inquiry. "Mr Meacher is a very fine Minister," the spokesman said. But he added: "No decision has yet been taken on the form of the inquiry."
A Downing Street spokeswoman said the Minister's comments must be looked at "in the context of the 1967 outbreak" when a public inquiry was held.
"The format of an inquiry would be for MAFF [Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food] to decide. It has not been agreed, but as Nick Brown [the Agriculture Minister] and the Prime Minister have said we would need to look at the longterm lessons from this," the spokeswoman added.
The Conservative agriculture spokesman, Mr Tim Yeo, said any inquiry must look at the government's handling of the crisis and he criticised how the issue of an inquiry was raised, saying Mr Blair should have made the announcement rather than having it "dribbled out" by Mr Meacher.
Meeting farmers' representatives at the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, the Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, called on the government to relieve the pressure on "hopelessly over-stretched" officials and hand over day-to-day control of the crisis to the army.
Mr Hague charged the government with overseeing a "muddled and confused" operation. The proposal was immediately rejected by Mr Blair during a visit to farmers in Wales, when he said the army would be "reluctant" to change its role. The senior army officer co-ordinating the cull and burial of carcasses in the north of England, Brig Alex Birtwistle, agreed. "It is quite right and proper for it to be a MAFF-led operation," he said. "To be frank I don't want to lead this operation. It would be too much trouble, too difficult to do."
As England's second mass burial site for carcasses was opened in Worcestershire and some nature reserves prepared to reopen, it emerged that nearly 900 sheep and cattle carcasses buried in Co Durham will have to be disinterred because of fears they could pollute an underground spring.
The carcasses were buried about two weeks ago when foot-and-mouth was confirmed near Low Houselope Farm, at Tow Law, in Co Durham. The Environment Agency said it had advised the farmer and local officials that the gravel pit was not suitable for burial because of fears the carcasses could pollute an underground spring serving nearby farms.
The farmer, Mr Douglas Foster, told the BBC he had not been told that the gravel pit was unsuitable. He also said there were reports of "discoloured" water in a local stream, but the Ministry of Agriculture said the stream had not been contaminated.