"We only said it was the likely source and were not pointing fingers."Mr Waugh is the subject of an exhaustive, intensive police inquiry: There have been repeated claims that Mr Waugh is the subject of a major police investigation So far, he ain't. He has seen the police ­ but only to discuss improving his security against animal rights campaigners.It was all a terrible surprise: In early February, officials contacted a timber merchant in Stafford inquiring about the availability of railway sleepers for funeral pyres for foot-and-mouth infected carcasses. The last time Maff asked about sleepers was in 1967 during the last major outbreak.When challenged about this in the Commons, Nick Brown said the business of "purchases" of sleepers was a "red herring" Curiously, Mr Brown had changed "inquiries" to "purchases". Nobody said sleepers had been bought, merely that Maff asked if they were available for sale.Other reports have claimed Maff was trying to source straw, bottles for disinfectant, even waterproof trousers before the outbreak. Hotels in the north are alleged to have received advance block-bookings for Maff officials. While Mr Brown has been contemptuous of these reports, dismissing them as "urban myths", his officials have tried to explain them away as "contingency planning".

This explanation has provoked wry smiles in farming quarters because there was absolutely no evidence of Maff having a plan when the crisis struck. Despite a detailed report into the 1967 epidemic and the lessons to be learned, Maff gave the impression of making up its 2001 response on the hoof.Get insured: In January this year, Maff warned farmers to take out higher insurance to protect their businesses against outbreaks of diseases. Despite no major occurrence in Britain since 1967, oddly foot and mouth was the first mentioned disease.Animal rights scored a big one: It goes like this: a government laboratory at Pirbright or Porton Down (depending on who you talk to) was broken into and a phial of virus stolen This was then fed to Bobby's pigs. While animal rights campaigners, notably the "militant vegans", have been triumphalist in heralding the likelihood that Britain will have to take a whole new approach to farming once this outbreak is over, nobody is claiming they did it and nobody is applauding the slaughter of millions of innocent animals.

Oh, and Saddam Hussein did it or Colonel Gadaffi in revenge for the Lockerbie trial. Yeah, yeah...Crooked farmers are responsible for the spread: Maff officials have changed their stance during the outbreak from one of total sympathy for farmers to hints dropped here and there that some of their number have been deliberately infecting sheep to get compensation, moving them from farm to farm under cover of darkness. The Army has also weighed in on this one, maintaining without naming names (as usual) this has been occurring If so, it is only a small minority. Most farmers have been too shell-shocked, too aware of the risks, to indulge in such practices.Meacher knows more than he is letting on: So where did it begin? In sheep before pigs, but how? Nobody knows Or to rephrase that, those who might know are not saying. Last weekend, stories appeared that infected meat from a nearby Army training camp had gone into Mr Waugh's pigswill. This was pooh-poohed by the Ministry of Defence, sending investigators back to zero. The reality is, we may never know how it started.When Michael Meacher, the Environment minister, called for a wholesale inquiry once the crisis had passed, he was roundly sat upon by Downing Street.