At Maff Brown has probably faced one of the toughest jobs of any minister. His tenure has come at a time when farm incomes have been plummeting and the British beef industry has been attempting to recover from the loss of markets after the BSE crisis.

On top of this the illegal refusal of the French to allow British beef imports, and outbreaks of swine fever and most recently foot-and-mouth have tested the minister's competence to the limit.