GWENT farmer David Handley was marching to Downing Street today to demand a public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Farmers For Action head Mr Handley, the Itton farmer who was aleader of the fuel blockades, was expected to be joined by as many as 2,000 farmers in the protest action.

They were meeting today at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park at midday and then marching to Downing Street to present the prime minister with a number of petitions.

They were also handing over a model farm for the Blair children, but, symbolically, the farm doesn't contain any animals.

Mr Handley's wife Marilyn said today: "It symbolises what they have been doing to us.

"A number of foot-and-mouth campaign groups met last Sunday in Cheshire and this was what came out of it, and this is just the beginning. We had about 2,000 people interested originally and there are probably more than that now."

The farmers, from all over Britain, have joined together under the umbrella name the Foot and Mouth Alliance.

The main thrust of the action is to call for a full public inquiry into the foot-and-mouth outbreak, although Mrs Handley said some of the farmers will also be calling for livestock to be vaccinated against the disease.

Mr Handley said: "We are calling for a full public inquiry, if it takes three years - there are a lot of questions that need answering."

He said taxpayers, who have footed the bill for foot-and-mouth, were entitled to know the full story.

Any inquiry could take place in private "in a back smoke-filled room" where only select information was released, he said.