London — Prime Minister Tony Blair needs to answer two tricky questions fast. The health of Britain's beleaguered agricultural sector rides on one response, his political well-being on the other.
Blair set a 48-hour deadline Thursday for deciding whether to vaccinate some livestock in hopes of containing foot-and-mouth disease, and he has only a little more time to make a choice about calling a national election in May.
Until foot-and-mouth erupted last month, the government was heading for a May 3 election, and a new opinion poll suggests the date would still be lucky for Blair. He has until April 6 to call the vote for that day.
In Britain, Blair met with agricultural leaders at his 10 Downing St. office, plotting strategies against the disease a day after the European Union gave the government permission to vaccinate 180,000 dairy cattle in the hardest-hit regions.
British leaders have been reluctant to use vaccination because it would lengthen the time the country needs to regain its "foot-and-mouth-free" status after the disease is eradicated.
National Farmers' Union president Ben Gill said after a 90-minute meeting with Blair that a decision on vaccinating should be made with a day or two.
Blair's spokesman, Alastair Campbell, said the government must make its choice within 48 hours.
As the number of infection sites passed 750, Campbell insisted Blair was not distracted by politics.
"The prime minister is not focusing on a poll or on elections, he is focusing 100 percent on tackling foot-and-mouth," he said.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.