THE Government's chief scientist last night announced that the foot-and-mouth epidemic was "fully under control".

Professor David King's bold statement came as The Northern Echo brought together Tony Blair and a North-East farmer so that the Prime Minister could hear at first hand the devastating impact of the disease.

Stephen Cleminson's dau-ghter Jessica touched the nation's heart earlier this week with her secret foot-and-mouth diary.

On Tuesday, The Northern Echo revealed how the eight-year-old kept a tear-stained account of the weekend her favourite cow became a victim of the cull.

Mr Cleminson needed special permission from the Ministry of Agriculture (Maff) before he could leave his farm at West Auckland, County Durham, to meet the Prime Minister yesterday.

Mr Blair, who was visiting The Northern Echo's Darlington head office, said he had been touched by the account of foot-and-mouth as seen through the eyes of a child.

No explanation was needed when Mr Cleminson handed over her diary to the Prime Minister.

The Labour leader stayed for nearly an hour as he listened to Mr Cleminson, who wants Government assistance to enable farmers to diversify.

The farmer also handed over a letter calling on the Government to help farmers change in a changing world.

He told Mr Blair: "I've been getting £30,000 a year in subsidies and I've been losing about £20,000 a year. Subsidies aren't the answer."

Mr Blair said over the next seven years much more money from the Common Agricultural Policy would go towards diversification and said the rest of Europe was looking at similar problems.

The Prime Minister pledged: "I think we need to sit down and look at all these questions and issues of diversification. Also, we have to look at what we actually want from the farming industry. A lot of production at the moment is dictated not what people actually want, but by the way the Common Agricultural Policy is structured."

Mr Blair also reiterated his support for vaccination in areas hardest hit by the disease, describing it as the "sensible option", but said the Government could not force farmers to vaccinate.

Meanwhile, Prof King said last night that the policy of mass culling healthy livestock as well as infected animals had been successful.

Prof King said a significant drop in the daily number of outbreaks - an average of 27 by last Sunday compared with 43 a fortnight previously - was proof that the disease was now under control.

He promised further drops in coming weeks with the increase figure predicted to halve every 14 days.

"On the basis of the fall in the number of cases being reported, the epidemic now is fully under control," he said.

His analysis was backed by the latest 24-hour figure last night which showed 15 new cases nationwide, including two in Northumberland.

l Last night, Maff faced new claims that it had failed to tackle the outbreak efficiently. Channel 4 News said a document, written by a senior Maff official, accused ministry vets of incompetence.