First – this speech was made by Owen Paterson MP at the Oxford Farming Conference which included the following:-
A few hours later this appeared on Twitter
I’m wondering if the two events are connected?
In case you’ve forgotten Owen Paterson used to be the the Secretary of State at DEFRA and Richard Benyon was his Under Secretary ……. and Floods Minister ……
A Dartmoor blog 
Benyon is partially right – taken over the last 3 months of 2015. But in December we had 105% of 10 year average rainfall, most of it in the last 5 days. continuing until the 2nd January. Statistics and statistics! A week of heavy rainfall sent the rivers “into a dark brown rage”. Land was flooded but not housing.
Hi Adrian – can you send me your new email, so I can forward an invitation to Norman Moore’s memorial service to you, thanks, Stuart.
adrian.colston@gmail.com – cheers