ABSTRACT
On her return to Downing Street after her 1987 election victory, Margaret Thatcher famously proclaimed from the steps of Number 10 that 'we must do something about those inner cities'. Celebrating re-election on 7 June 2001, Tony Blair resisted the temptation to voice a similar resolution about the countryside. However, in moving swiftly to replace the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) with a Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) - an act described by one DEFRA minister, Michael Meacher, as 'an inspired seizure of the best opportunity for reform in decades' (Meacher, 2001) - and in his appointment of a trusted troubleshooter, Lord Haskins, to head a 'rural recovery drive', Blair proved that actions speak louder than words.
