TMB football sponsorship deal "a mistake" concedes TMB chairman

Tripe Marketing Board chairman Sir Norman Wrassle has condemned the "action of individuals" for bringing "shame and humiliation" on OffOffal, the governing body for the offal processing industry.

Sir Norman was speaking at the opening of OffOffal's 2015 congress, a day after seven top officials were arrested by East Lancashire constabulary on charges of bribery, corruption and rigging the spot prices for common offal products such as heart, lung and spleen.  In a separate development, Italian  officials opened criminal proceedings into the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 International Congress of Tripe, which is due to be held in Chorley and Wakefield following last year's Milan event.

TMB sponsorship may have been a mistake

Sir Norman said he was "personally disappointed" following revelations in the Wigan on Sunday newspaper that an unnamed regional director of the Tripe Marketing Board had been photographed accepting a plain brown envelope at Charnock Richard service station on the M6 earlier this year.  "While this may have just been an innocent swapping of holiday photographs or some suchlike, we will fully investigate the matter and, if necessary, we may have to consider this individual's position," he said.

Responding to questions from the audience, Sir Norman conceded that the TMB's decision to sponsor Blackpool South FC in the 2013-14 season may have been a "huge mistake".  "They actually didn't do very well that year. We should have sponsored them last season, when they emerged as league champions," he said.

TMB denies keeping low profile in advance of Queen's Speech

The Tripe Marketing Board has denied suggestions that it deliberately restricted its media presence in the run-up to today's Queen's Speech because it feared it could be abolished. 

Sir Norman Wrassle

The accusation was made earlier today during an interview on the internet radio station Butcher FM by Donald McIntrow, deputy editor of the trade journal Offal Monthly.

Responding to Mr McIntrow's comments, TMB chairman Sir Norman Wrassle said: "It's ridiculous to suggest that we would somehow try to keep our heads down in advance of the Queen's Speech. We never worried for a minute that the TMB might be abolished".

Sir Norman said that any reduction in the TMB's social media presence over the last two weeks had been due to the imposition of a new staffing rota.  He went on to say: "David Cameron has described the Government's legislative package as "a programme for working people".  Tripe is a traditional food for working people, so it's got to be good news for our product".

Next five years "will be good for tripe" says TMB

Sir Norman Wrassle

The election of a majority Conservative government spells "good news for tripe," Tripe Marketing Board chairman Sir Norman Wrassle said earlier today.

Sir Norman was speaking at the annual meeting of the North West Lancashire Federation of Townswomen's Guilds in Chorley.  He said that a government committed to "really making austerity bite" could only be good for tripe sales, and that he was looking forward to the opportunity to promote the foodstuff in the months and years ahead.

Sir Norman denied that the TMB was politically biased.  "It's just a fact that tripe is the perfect austerity foodstuff - it's cheap and nutricious and it's easy to feed a family of four for next to nothing.  More and more people will be forced to look at its merits as household budgets become tighter," he said.

TMB calls for trebling of tripe marketing budget

The Tripe Marketing Board has called for the next government to treble the budget devoted to promoting tripe.

TMB chairman Sir Norman Wrassle said that whatever the outcome of the UK General Election, he would be asking for extra resources to promote tripe.  "We have been operating on a shoestring and we can no longer rely on our product to sell itself," he told a media conference in Preston earlier today.

Sir Norman Wrassle

Sir Norman admitted that April 2015 sales figures for tripe, which showed a decline against the figures for a year ago, were "a little disappointing," but he was confident that an increased promotional budget would persuade more people to give tripe a try.  "We have considered introducing a £1 levy on every pound of tripe sold, but this would only raise around £200 over the next twelve months," Sir Norman said.

Sir Norman blamed the decline in sales on a public perception that the economy was improving and that the period of austerity was now over. "People have been turning to more expensive cuts of meat.  This is bound to be short-lived.  Only two years ago, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Institute for Government predicted austerity would last until 2020. As tripe is the perfect austerity foodstuff, we rely on these predictions for our sales projections," he said.

Asked whether the TMB would be advising tripe consumers how to vote on Thursday, Sir Norman said there were no plans to do so, but he was confident that anti-tripe candidates such as Boris Johnson would be sent a clear message by the electorate. 

TMB congratulates William & Kate on birth of baby daughter

Pink tripe

The Tripe Marketing Board has today sent its congratulations to Prince William and Princess Kate on the birth of their daughter.

Speaking from his Lytham home this afternoon, TMB chairman Sir Norman Wrassle said: "We couldn't be more delighted that William and Kate have 'done it again'!" 

Sir Norman said that the timing of the birth would help take people's minds off more difficult issues such as austerity and the election.  "There's nothing like a baby to give you the 'feel-good' factor," he said.

Sir Norman said that the TMB would be sending the traditional gift of 5lb (2.26kg) of the finest Lancashire tripe to mark the occasion and that selected tripe retailers would be selling limited-edition pink tripe from tomorrow.