Question: What is your reaction to the controversy surrounding the "ghost ships" expected to arrive from the United States?

David Curry: Well, it's been a cock-up from start to finish, hasn't it?

Question: Do you think the government should seek to halt the ships from entering the UK?

David Curry: Well, it's a bit late in the day, isn't it? I mean, the Environment Agency originally gave permission, I understand it, and then withdrew permission.

But it makes the government look rather weak and feeble, and one has serious doubts as to whether we ought to be looking as if we are yet again turning ourselves into the sort of rubbish disposal centre of the world.

Question: What lessons can the government learn from the mishap?

David Curry: Well, the government needs to find out - the principle lesson is first of all find out what is happening, have a means of spotting these things and then make up your mind and stick to it.

Questions: You've recently had an inquiry into the handling of the national GM debate - what are your initial conclusions?

David Curry: Judging just by the evidence - because we haven't produced a report yet, so I can't speak on behalf of the committee - I think it was probably too short, and the timing was wrong and it was held at a time when quite a lot of the information which was really necessary for people to have a balanced view was not available.

I think it was too short, under funded and far too prone to be hijacked by interest groups. I mean mainly anti-GM interest groups.

Question: How do you respond to calls from Michael Meacher for the GM trials to be repeated?

Well, you can go on - I mean how many times are you going to go on repeating trials?

If you have some doubts about the outcome, then I have no problems with that.

But at some stage the government has got to make up its mind on this, and meanwhile you've got rules coming from the European Union which set some sort of timescale as to decision-making.

Michael Meacher is saying this because Michael Meacher just wants to prevent any GM products being grown in the UK, ultimately.

I think the government needs to keep its options open and needs to do this on a case-by-case basis.

Question: What steps, in your view, would the government have to take for GM crops to be launched commercially in a safe way?

David Curry: All it can do is to take the scientific advice, can't it? You can't have a political issue divorced from the science.

The science, at the end of the day, is never going to be unanimous, but you've got to take a decision about what on balance seems sensible, taking into account the broad ecological consideration.

I don't think there are any food safety issues for a minute, I think those issues are fictional.

There are certainly ecological issues, and all it can do is to do trials, it then takes the scientific advice, it makes sure that consumers have got a choice. It makes sure that we know where products are being grown, we've got a sort of map of the real estate, so we've got traceability.

And if you can do that I think that it is possible for organic, GM, conventional, low-input farming to co-exist.

Question: There have been press reports that English Nature could be abolished - what is your reaction to that?

David Curry: Well, you've got a - this is part of a wider package. What is being proposed is there should be a new agency which would bring together various functions, notably the service delivery.

I think that we need to see exactly what this proposal is, it could be that English Nature is at the heart of this new organisation, it's not very clear what it is proposed at the moment.

I think we want to make sure that the function of English Nature is preserved. I would never die in the ditch for any particular organisation, what is important is what it does and is that going to be done in a fairly independent and transparent manner?

Broadly speaking, the Haskins proposals are alright because, I think, we have total confusion about the way services are delivered in the countryside and that would be sorted.

Question: Do you think environmental issues are high enough up the political agenda?

David Curry: I think some are and some aren't, you can't take the environment as a whole.

Some issues people do feel reasonably exercised about. Public transport is an environmental issue, if you like.

Other ones, like GM, are always going to be something that is basically an A/B sort of issue.

Global warming I think is again rather sort of A/B issue. But more common things, like waste disposal, are really quite hot on the political agenda, because there is a lot of money involved in that.

So it depends what issues you are talking about, but it's certainly not - you can't talk about the environment across the piece, you've got to differentiate.

You are also a Conservative MP. How has your local party reacted to the recent changes in party leadership?

David Curry: I haven't the faintest idea, I'm delighted to say.

Question: Do you think Michael Howard will show more tolerance towards pro-Europeans within the party?

David Curry: I think that he recognises that the party has got to be more ecumenical, that if it's to broaden it's appeal, if it's to appeal to a wider part of the electorate, it has got to get back to being that broad church.

Part of the broad church, it may only be an apse, but part of the broad church is the pro-European element.

I think he's a sensible enough man to know that the party must not be sectarian, it's got to start being ecumenical.

Question: Would you serve in a Shadow Cabinet?

David Curry:Well, it depends what was offered and what the conditions were. I would not exclude serving if I felt there was a job which I could do properly.