MAFF the Reliant Robin of Whitehall

17 December 1998

MAFF — the ‘Reliant Robin’ of Whitehall

THE Ministry of Agriculture is widely seen as the “Reliant Robin” of Whitehall, according to the departments own research.

Prompted by researchers, members of a MAFF focus group identified the slightly eccentric three-wheeler as the symbol for their own ministry.

The MORI survey showed that the department is perceived as uncommunicative, backward-looking, slow and bureaucratic.

Just 20% of farmers described the ministry as “efficient”, while just 6% of the wider public thought that it was “competent”.

• The Independent 17/12/98 page 4