Hague tells Blair: 'Get a grip'

Tony Blair: Under pressure over foot-and-mouth

The political row over the foot-and-mouth outbreak has intensified with a fierce Commons clash between Prime Minister Tony Blair and opposition leader William Hague.

Mr Hague accused the government of "dithering", re-stated his demand for a crisis cabinet to be established and urged the prime minister to "get a grip".

The message from across the country... is 'stop dithering and get on with it'

William Hague

Mr Blair countered by saying the Conservative leader was getting on "his bandwagon", while a senior Labour MP attacked Mr Hague for showing "synthetic compassion" for farmers.

The row, on the same day as the mass burial of animals began in Cumbria, blew up after Mr Blair reported to MPs on the weekend's European Union summit in Stockholm.

The main business of the talks was overshadowed by the foot-and-mouth crisis sweeping Britain and threatening other EU member states.

In his statement the prime minister referred to the "sympathy" for Britain expressed by other European leaders - but Mr Hague launched a scathing attack on the government's handling of the situation.

Calling for a range of measures to improve the way the disease was being tackled, the opposition leader said a crisis cabinet would stamp out the inter-departmental "turf wars" that were "obviously" hampering government efforts.

It is a huge practical logistical effort. It is like tracking a common cold in the human population

Tony Blair

"The government say they are going to do all these things, but their efforts have lacked urgency and co-ordination," Mr Hague told MPs.

"The message from across the country about the use of the army, the speed of slaughter and carrying out the cull is: stop dithering and get on with it.

"By doing all these things the government would be at last signalling that it is indeed its absolute and over-riding priority to get on top of the situation and get a grip on eradicating this disease."

But Mr Blair, who told MPs the time between confirmation of the disease and slaughter was being cut across the country, insisted the policy of "containment by culling" was the correct approach to tackling the disease for now.

The prime minister provoked cheers from Labour MPs and angry jeers from Tories when he told Mr Hague: "It is not helped, frankly, when you with any particular problem there is in the country seize the opportunity to get out your bandwagon and travel round the country on it."

'Synthetic compassion'

Dismissing Mr Hague's call to set up "another committee" as irrelevant, Mr Blair insisted: "We are doing everything we possibly can."

Labour former minister Gerald Kaufman attacked Mr Hague for expressing "synthetic compassion".

Former Tory minister Sir Michael Spicer accused the government of introducing effective measures against foot-and-mouth "two weeks late".

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy kept up the pressure too, asking Mr Blair about suspicions that some food imports into Britain were not subject to the standards of stringency "that we impose on ourselves".

The prime minister said it was a very common concern of farmers and indicated the issue could feature when Agriculture Minister Nick Brown reveals more about the possible origin of the epidemic on Tuesday.

Election date

There was also more pressure on the prime minister to delay local elections scheduled for 3 May - the same date many believe Mr Blair wants to call a general election.

He was caught unawares by a TV camera in Stockholm acknowledging he has just days to decide whether elections can go ahead on that date.

Attempting to make a joke of the incident, Mr Blair told MPs it was "our own special contribution to the transparency of the council process".

But Mr Hague urged legislation to be brought before parliament this week that could enable some local elections to be postponed if necessary.