What is it about agriculture ministers and mix-ups? When the new Italian prime minister Mario Monti was appointing his cabinet, he accidentally told Francesco Braga, a Professor of agriculture in Canada, that he'd got a top job.
But the appointment turned out to be meant for near-namesake Franco Braga, a professor of infrastructure in Rome.
Franco, however, wasn't even meant to get the job in the first place - he'd been recommended for one in infrastructure. Former Italian infrastructure minister Altero Matteoli said: "To tell the truth, I recommended him for infrastructure, but they put him in agriculture."
But the new Italian government should take heart: It's not the first time there's been a mix-up. Tony Blair once famously gaffed when making a ministerial appointment, temporarily offering an agriculture job to backbench MP Brian Donohoe instead of Lord Bernard Donougue.