Coffey would rather make us eat Baldrick’s favourite veg than admit Brexit is a failure

First it was Asda and Morrisons. Then Aldi and then Tesco joined the party in limiting sales of some fruit and vegetables. So who is next in line?

Conspicuous by its absence from the list is Sainsbury’s. I’m told it has no intention of joining the party. That might generate Britain’s number two grocer some extra sales if it can keep its shelves stocked. But it remains to be seen if it can.

The big grocers have sufficient stock to serve their customers. But that’s not true of some retailers who are not above topping up their stock from the supermarket shelves.

Those who are rationing have said the limits they have imposed are temporary. In Tesco’s case, this means three items per customer when it comes to tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. And yes, that’s not many tomatoes if you buy them loose and you like salads.

What a mess. Remember what Boris Johnson dismissed as “project fear”? Now it’s project “here”. What a shabby legacy he’s left, yet some Tories want him back. I’d be fascinated to know what they’ve been drinking in the subsidised bars around the Palace of Westminster.

Much of Britain’s political class has followed the bloviating blonde fool at least some way down the rabbit hole. They can’t bring themselves to admit their mistake, which led to the farcical spectacle of Therese Coffey, the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, lecturing on the subject of turnips in the House of Commons.

She says we should all now be eating Baldrick from Blackadder’s favourite veg in order to help British farmers, who the Tories have been stuffing like Christmas turkeys. Can we expect the Defra caterers to be serving turnip soup for the next month? Anyone for a turnip salad in the House of Commons canteen? I doubt it.

It is not just hectoring Tory drones such as Coffey who can’t admit the damage Brexit has caused. Even those who opposed the self-inflicted wound have appeased them to some degree; I see you, Keir Starmer, and your front bench pals.

It is interesting to note that Spanish farmers have stepped up to say they have sufficient produce to supply the market, despite the poor harvests. So why the specific supply problem in Britain?

Slowly, outside the den of falsehood and failure Westminster has become, there can be found people willing to admit to the truth, such as Justin King, who was good at using the media to his advantage when he was running Sainsbury’s.

“This is a sector that’s been significantly disrupted by Brexit,” said King. Because of course it has been. If you put up trade barriers like this government has, you inevitably create problems with your supply chains, which are apt to buckle in the face of challenges. It isn’t just grocers that this has mucked things up for either.

The government could and should have acted to support British farmers to grow produce other than turnips. There are places with the facilities to produce tomatoes year-round. But ministers opted not to support this energy-intensive industry when its costs hit the roof.

The results are there to see for anyone wanting to buy a fourth tomato. “We are uniquely exposed to imports at this time of year,” King said. “There is a genuine shortage, but we did rather bring this problem on ourselves.”

But we didn’t; our politicians brought this problem down upon us. And still they lie about it.