Commenting on the promotion of Margaret Beckett to Foreign Secretary, Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP said:

"It is extraordinary that Margaret Beckett has been promoted after presiding over one of the most incompetent introductions of a new policy anywhere in Government.

"Mrs Beckett chose a form of single farm payments in England that led to a complete shambles, including considerable hardship for many thousands of small farmers and the sacking of the head of the Rural Payments Agency. In Scotland, Wales, and continental countries introducing a similar scheme, farmers have been paid on time. Only in England, under Mrs Beckett's tutelage, has the whole system descended from farce to tragedy.

"In Tony Blair's Government, competence clearly matters less than loyalty. We can only assume that Mrs Beckett has been promoted as her master's voice."