Is the Minister for Bees a Queen?

I've just heard from New England that there is some amusement that the UK has a Minister for Bees (see earlier story). They wonder if she is in fact a queen and if so how that affects our Parliamentary democracy. But having read Harry Potter stories, they realise that anything goes in Britain, so we'll get by.

They were also confused by the talk of bee funding cuts. Yes, it is a bit Alice in Wonderland -- but here's what I think the Minister for Bees is saying (I paraphrase of course!):

We are always looking to save on expenditure and are making general cuts in the Agriculture Department. We implied that we'd make cuts in bee funding, but now realise that we could meet some stiff opposition. It's such a piddling amount of money that I think we should prepare an escape route and stop all the fuss and bother of trying to save a measly amount.

But just in case, we'll leave the door open in case we can force through cuts by claiming that we're actually making the system more efficient.