THE chances of Prime Minister Gordon Brown matching the reported £1.65bn pay-out that French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week pledged to his farmers are about as remote as David Cameron nominating Tony Blair for the European Council presidency.

Even a born optimist like me would never dream of the day any British government would support its farmers like the French seem to do.

I couldn't help but make a comparison in the decision by Mr Sarkozy, which he emphasised was a moral duty to help French farmers, and that of the Government in the UK.