Watching the Oxford Farming Conference last week, The Dealer was reminded of the old adage in litigation – never ask a witness a question you don’t know the answer to or you could end up with all sorts of problems.
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) secretary of state, Andrea Leadsom, learned this lesson the hard way during her Q&A at the conference last week. It was all going so well for the Brexiteer as she made all the right noises about how Brexit was going to liberate farmers from the reams of red tape.
However, midway through Leadsom’s Q&A, the moderator asked for a show of hands as to how many people in the room shared Leadsom’s confidence that DEFRA was ready to handle the UK’s exit from the EU.
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After an embarrassing no-show, Leadsom’s colleague George Eustice sheepishly raised his hand, leading to an outburst of laughter from the audience.
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Watching the Oxford Farming Conference last week, The Dealer was reminded of the old adage in litigation – never ask a witness a question you don’t know the answer to or you could end up with all sorts of problems.
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) secretary of state, Andrea Leadsom, learned this lesson the hard way during her Q&A at the conference last week. It was all going so well for the Brexiteer as she made all the right noises about how Brexit was going to liberate farmers from the reams of red tape.
However, midway through Leadsom’s Q&A, the moderator asked for a show of hands as to how many people in the room shared Leadsom’s confidence that DEFRA was ready to handle the UK’s exit from the EU.
After an embarrassing no-show, Leadsom’s colleague George Eustice sheepishly raised his hand, leading to an outburst of laughter from the audience.
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