Lord Rooker to take over as FSA Chairman

Former Food and Farming Minister Jeff Rooker is set to become the new chairman of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), a body he helped set up 10 years ago.

Lord Rooker was offered the post last Friday, although the appointment still needs to be confirmed by Health Select Committee, which he will appear before on Monday.

Subject to confirmation, he will replace Deirdre Hutton on August 1, marking a return to the spotlight following his resignation from Government last October.

The appointment means, however, that Lord Rooker will have to relinquish the post of Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) president that he only took up a fortnight ago.

The 68-year-old will also be giving up the Labour Whip after 35 years as a Labour MP and peer to demonstrate his political independence in the new role. He will continue to appear in the House of Lords an independent peer.

He said he was ‘delighted’ to be provisionally appointed as the head of the agency he was instrumental in setting up as a MAFF Minister in the late-1990s. He said it had done a good job.

“I always said to people when I was Minister that if I walked out of Government tomorrow I did two things – set up the cattle movement service and the FSA,” he told Farmers Guardian.

Lord Rooker, seen as an ally of the industry during his time as a Minister, pledged to take an ‘active interest in food production’ and look closely at the regulatory burden imposed on it.

He expressed regret that he would not be taking up the RABDF post. “I was looking forward to it. I said at the AGM I was the least qualified president they ever had and I am now probably going to be the shortest serving,” he said.

He insisted he was not ‘head-hunted’ in response to suggestions by Opposition MPs that he might be a political appointment by the Labour Government.

“I answered the advert in a newspaper. Nobody asked me and I didn’t tell a soul. I just applied,” he said.

RABDF chief executive, Nick Everington said the association was ‘naturally disappointed’ by his likely resignation but understood the reasons. He described Lord Rooker as the ‘appropriate person’ for the FSA job.

RABDF’s immediate past president, Lady Byford has agreed to resume the position until a successor is confirmed.

Source: Farmers Guardian