The beef goes on…

Date: 25/04/1996

Many people have already forgotten what all the BSE fuss was about. But few who monitored the events closely will forget what was said during a crisis which has caused a tragic outbreak of mad quote disease.

Until this week, the award looked destined to go to none other than Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler himself.

It was about one hour into an endless press briefing in the excitable early days of the beef ban shock drama, when Fischler, who had nothing more to say, noticed there were still a couple of dozen hacks waiting with penetrating questions on his policy. “We'd better speed this up,” he said (or as an interpreter conveyed his words), “otherwise we'll be here until the cows come home.”

But the Commissioner has been outquoted by UK Conservative MEP and BSE spokesman Robert Sturdy.

Asked to comment on the continuation of the beef ban despite Fischler's own admission that there was no medical reason not to eat British beef, he said: “It has only made us more determined than ever to show that our beef is safe. There is a Dunkirk spirit, a sort of Churchillian thing in which we are saying to our partners that we are not going to be put off. We are going to carry on eating our beef even if it kills us!”

For those unfamiliar with metaphorical English, Entre Nous should explain that Sturdy's remark should not be taken literally. The MEP's unfortunate use of this oft-deployed expression was merely intended to underline his determination to reassure the public that all was well.