Ben Barnett: Doubts over Michael Gove's Defra future do not deter from environmental mission

By Ben Barnett
Published 20th Jul 2019, 10:00 BST
Environment Secretary Michael Gove warned that time is running out to repair the damage to the planet that human beings have done, during a keynote speech at Kew Gardens on Tuesday. Picture by Jonathan Brady/PA Wire.Environment Secretary Michael Gove warned that time is running out to repair the damage to the planet that human beings have done, during a keynote speech at Kew Gardens on Tuesday. Picture by Jonathan Brady/PA Wire.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove warned that time is running out to repair the damage to the planet that human beings have done, during a keynote speech at Kew Gardens on Tuesday. Picture by Jonathan Brady/PA Wire.

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.

Driffield Show took me ringside this week and, as it always seems to be the case at East Yorkshire’s big day out, it was a baking hot one.

Disease cases cause cancellation of Ryedale Show's pig classes

Driffield Show revels in the heat at 144th edition

Enter here - The Yorkshire Post's Rural Awards 2019

Everything seems better in the sunshine, doesn’t it? The pressures of everyday business visibly slink away as smiles and sun hats become the order of the day at a summer show.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I found show attendee Guy Smith, deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union, in good humour. The ‘Essex Peasant’, as Mr Smith calls himself on Twitter, remarked on the irony of having been sat, on a hot day earlier in the week, in a greenhouse at Kew Gardens listening to Michael Gove talk about climate change.

The union chief was at Driffield to meet farmers and a key message from my interview with him was that there must be consistent government funding in the years ahead to help farmers live up to both Environment Secretary Mr Gove’s environmental vision for the future, and the industry’s own 2040 net zero aspiration.