Could UK Foot and Mouth save the Conservatives a snap Election defeat ?

Foot and Mouth has reared its ugly head in the UK again a farm in Surrey will begin culling all its cattle to avoid spread. However during the last major outbreak in the UK special measures forced the postponement of a national poll in 2001. Originally slated for May, the general was pushed back to June. This was seen as a good decision and the majority of the country backed this, allowing ministers to concentrate on the aftermath not their own re-election.

Quoted from the article, Tim Bonner, from the Countryside Alliance, said: "Even the words 'foot-and-mouth' will send a chill through the spine of every farmer in the country.

"We hope for a better response this time from the government - the last time it was chaos."

However this outbreak, if it spreads, could scupper the rumoured plans for a Brown snap Fall election in the UK, one the current Tories would almost certainly lose, again. Pushing the election back would almost certainly place it post Winter - but even by the Spring I can't see DC being in any better a position to fight Brown either from a policy position or a "Look at the state of the country under this dower Scottish socialist"