The Right Honourable
The Lord Benyon
PC
Official portrait, 2017
Minister of State for Climate, Environment and Energy
Assumed office
14 November 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byThe Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Minister of State for Biosecurity, Marine and Rural Affairs[a]
In office
30 October 2022 – 14 November 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byScott Mann
Succeeded by
In office
13 May 2021 – 20 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byThe Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Succeeded byScott Mann
In office
6 June 2010 – 7 October 2013
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byDan Norris
Succeeded byDan Rogerson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Environment
In office
20 September 2022 – 25 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Preceded byThe Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Succeeded byVacant
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
2 February 2021
Life peerage
Member of Parliament
for Newbury
In office
5 May 2005 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byDavid Rendel
Succeeded byLaura Farris
Personal details
Born (1960-10-21) 21 October 1960 (age 63)
Reading, Berkshire, England
Political partyConservative[b]
Spouse(s)Emma Villiers (divorced)
Zoe Robinson
Children5 sons
ResidenceEnglefield House
EducationBradfield College
Alma materRoyal Agricultural College
Awards Life peer
Signature
Websiterichardbenyon.com
parliament..richard-benyon
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service British Army
Years of service1981–85
RankLieutenant
UnitRoyal Green Jackets

Richard Henry Ronald Benyon, Baron Benyon PC[1][2] (born 21 October 1960) is a British politician who has served as Minister of State for Climate, Environment and Energy since 2023.[3] A member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Newbury from 2005 to 2019.

Benyon studied at the Royal Agricultural College and Royal Military Academy Sandhurst before serving in the British Army, being posted to Northern Ireland and the Far East with the Royal Green Jackets. He was elected to Newbury Council in 1991 and became Conservative group leader in 1994.

Benyon became MP for Newbury at the 2005 general election. In opposition, he served on the Home Affairs Select Committee, as an opposition whip and as a shadow minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Under David Cameron, he first served as a government minister at DEFRA from May 2010 to October 2013. He had the Conservative whip removed on 3 September 2019 by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after voting against the government, and sat as an independent MP until he had the whip restored on 28 October 2019.

In December 2020, it was announced Benyon would have a life peerage conferred after a nomination by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.[4] Following the resignation of Lord Gardiner of Kimble in May 2021, he was again made Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.[5]

Early life

Benyon was born on 21 October 1960 in Reading.[6] He is the son of Sir William Richard Benyon, a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1992,[7] and is the great-great-grandson of former Conservative Prime Minister Lord Salisbury.[8] He was educated at nearby Bradfield College and the Royal Agricultural College.

Military service

Having attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets, British Army, as a second lieutenant on 8 August 1981.[9] He was promoted to lieutenant on 8 August 1983.[10]

During his four years' service, he was posted to Northern Ireland, other parts of the UK, and the Far East.[11] He transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 8 August 1984, thereby ending his military career but maintaining call-up liability.[12]

Political career

He was elected in 1991 to Newbury District Council, and became Conservative group leader in 1994, in opposition to the then-ruling Liberal Democrats. He lost his council seat in 1995.

House of Commons

Benyon contested the Newbury constituency at the 1997 general election but lost heavily to the 1993 by-election incumbent Liberal Democrat David Rendel. Benyon and Rendel contested Newbury again at the 2001 general election, and Rendel came out again as the victor with a reduced majority. He and Rendel again contested Newbury at the 2005 UK general election and Benyon was elected with a majority of 3,460, replacing Rendel.

Benyon made his maiden speech on 20 May 2005 and served on the Home Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2007, when he became an Opposition Whip. He was the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2009 until the 2010 general election when he entered government. He was also one of the first 15 MPs to support David Cameron's Conservative Party leadership bid.

In May 2009, he was listed by The Daily Telegraph as one of the "saints" in the expenses scandal exposed by that newspaper.[13]

Benyon was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the first Cameron Ministry.[14] and remained in post until a ministerial reshuffle in October 2013.[15]

In 2012, while Wildlife Minister, Benyon refused a request from other MPs that possession of carbofuran, a deadly poison used to kill raptors that is banned in Canada and the European Union, should be made a criminal offence.[16] Green Party MP Caroline Lucas was quoted as saying: "The minister's shocking refusal to outlaw the possession of a poison used only by rogue gamekeepers to illegally kill birds of prey would be inexplicable were it not for his own cosy links to the shooting lobby".[16]

In December 2012, Benyon's neighbours complained when Hanson Aggregates were given permission to extract 200,000 tonnes of sand and gravel a year from woodlands on Benyon's family estate, leading it to be described as a 'bombsite'.[17] Benyon said that the estate was controlled by a family trust.[17]

In 2013, Benyon succeeded in preventing any cuts in fishing quotas. He said that if British fishermen had their quotas cut they would dump even more fish overboard, and the more fish they are allowed to catch, the better it will be for "the health of our seas". Back in 2004, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution proposed that 30% of the United Kingdom's waters should become reserves preventing fishing or any other kind of extraction.[18]

Also in 2013, Benyon's policy relating to access to rivers and his role as an owner of fishing rights was criticised. Writing in The Guardian, George Monbiot wrote that Benyon "repeatedly wields his power in ways that promote his own interests" and being "so enmeshed in potential conflicts of interest that were he to recuse himself from all the issues in which he has a personal stake, he would have nothing to do but order the departmental paperclips".[19]

In 2014, Benyon's family firm was part of a property consortium that purchased New Era estate, one of the last affordable housing estates for working-class Londoners. The consortium increased the rents and announced plans to increase them further to match the rest of the market, effectively displacing its current residents.[20] Following negative publicity and protests by the tenants, Benyon Estate announced that it would sell its stake in the consortium back to the landlord, Westbrook Partners, a New York–based property investment company.[21][22]

Benyon was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 European Union membership referendum.[23] On 16 December 2016, he was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.[24]

In 2017, Benyon was accused of nepotism by Private Eye after he hired his sister, Catherine Haig, as a part-time researcher while an MP as a part-time senior researcher in his office just before a parliamentary ban on such practices came into force.[25] In 2019 he was one of 21 Conservative MPs who lost the whip for supporting the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019.[26] He stood down in the general election called thereafter.[27]

On 3 September 2019, Benyon - along with 20 other Conservative MPs - had the Conservative whip removed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after voting against the government and supporting an emergency motion to allow the House of Commons to undertake proceedings on the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 6) Bill. Benyon sat as an independent MP until he had the Conservative whip restored on 28 October 2019.

According to The Register of Members' Financial Interests, as at 21 January 2019, he was paid £15,000 per annum by the UK Water Partnership, a not-for-profit company set up to promote the interests of the UK water sector. He received donations amounting to £8,250 in 2018, from Philip Lavallin Wroughton (three payments amounting to £7,000) and from Chris Gent (a single payment of £1,250).[28]

Benyon stood down as Member of Parliament for Newbury at the 2019 United Kingdom general election.

House of Lords

In January 2021, Benyon was raised to the House of Lords by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, styled Baron Benyon, of Englefield in the Royal County of Berkshire.[29]

On 13 May 2021, Lord Benyon was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Biosecurity, following the resignation of Lord Gardiner of Kimble.[5] On 25 October 2022 Rishi Sunak promoted him and appointed him as a Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Philanthropy

Benyon is a patron of the charity, Berkshire Vision, a charity dedicated to supported the visually impaired in the county.[30]

Benyon is one of nine Vice-Presidents of Berkshire County Scout Council.

Wealth

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2019, Benyon is worth £130 million.[31]

He controls the Englefield Estate, a 14,000 acre estate of mainly rural land and property in West Berkshire and Hampshire between Reading, Newbury and Basingstoke. It is the largest private landowner in West Berkshire.[32] The family seat is Englefield House, a large Grade II* Listed building owned by the Benyon family for many generations.

Englefield Estates owns the Benyon Estate, a portfolio of 371 homes in Hackney, London.[33] His brother Edward Benyon manages the London properties. In March 2014, the Benyon Estate bought a 10% stake in the New Era Estate in Hoxton, and was awarded the contract to manage the estate. They sold their share in November 2014 following a dispute over rent.[34]

Benyon also owns the Glenmazeran Estate in Inverness, Scotland.[35]

Personal life

In December 2017, Benyon was banned from driving for six months after admitting to using a mobile phone while driving. He had previously spoken out against mobile phone-using drivers after four people were killed by a distracted driver in an accident in his constituency.[36]

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ^ Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Rural Affairs, Access to Nature and Biosecurity from May 2021 to September 2022 and Natural Environment, Water and Rural Affairs from June 2010 to October 2013.
  2. ^ Sat as an independent politician while Conservative whip was suspended from 3 September to 28 October 2019.

References

  1. ^ "Political Peerages 2020". Gov.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Ministers' interests" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for International Environment) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Political Peerages 2020". Gov.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b "The Rt Hon Lord Benyon". GOV.UK. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Democracy Live: Your representatives: Richard Benyon". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  7. ^ "Keeping it in the Family". Scribd. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  8. ^ "General Election 2005 Research Paper" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009.
  9. ^ "No. 48770". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 October 1981. pp. 13269–13270.
  10. ^ "No. 49455". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 August 1983. p. 11159.
  11. ^ "Richard Benyon". Politics.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  12. ^ "No. 49844". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 August 1984. p. 11401.
  13. ^ "MPs' Expenses: the saints". The Daily Telegraph. London. 18 May 2009. Archived from the original on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  14. ^ "Fuller list of junior appointments". Conservative Home. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  15. ^ "Coalition government reshuffle". The Guardian. 7 October 2013. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  16. ^ a b Michael McCarthy, "Fury at minister Richard Benyon's 'astounding' refusal to ban deadly bird poison" Archived 17 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent, 20 October 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  17. ^ a b Tom Rowley (9 December 2012). "Environment Minister Richard Benyon's family estate to destroy 218 acres of woodland". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  18. ^ Monbiot, George. "Ship-Wrecked". Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
  19. ^ Monbiot, George (4 April 2013). "We have no right to our rivers while Richard Benyon's interests are served". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 5 August 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  20. ^ Chakrabortty, Aditya (10 November 2014). "The story of the millionaire Tory MP and the tenants facing homelessness". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  21. ^ Hill, Amelia; Walker, Peter (14 November 2014). "New Era tenants take rent battle to US after Tory MP's firm sells stake". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  22. ^ Booth, Robert (18 December 2014). "US investors set to sell New Era estate in London after protests". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  23. ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  24. ^ "Privy Council appointments: Diane Abbott, Richard Benyon and Emily Thornberry". GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  25. ^ "Nepotism update". Private Eye. London: Pressdram Ltd. 11 August 2017.
  26. ^ "Who were the Conservative Brexit rebels?". 5 September 2019. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  27. ^ "Newbury MP Richard Benyon will not fight next election". BBC News. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  28. ^ "The Register of Members' Financial Interests as at 21 January 2019 - Benyon, Richard (Newbury)". Parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  29. ^ "Crown Office". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  30. ^ "Patrons Berkshire Vision Berkshire Vision". berkshirevision.org.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  31. ^ "Rich List 2019: profiles 864-900=, featuring Rory McIlroy, Phil Collins and John Deacon". The Times. 12 May 2019. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  32. ^ "The thirty landowners who own half a county". Who owns England?. 17 April 2017. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  33. ^ "Landlord directs tenants to food banks following £1,000 rent hike". BBC News. 2 September 2022. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  34. ^ Johnston, Chris (13 November 2014). "Tory MP's family firm pulls out of Hoxton's New Era estate over rent row". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  35. ^ "Property Page: Glenmazeran Estate". www.whoownsscotland.org.uk.
  36. ^ "MP Richard Benyon banned for texting while driving". BBC. 14 April 2018.

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Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded byDavid Rendel Member of Parliament for Newbury 2005–2019 Succeeded byLaura Farris Political offices Preceded byhimselfas Parliamentary Under-Secretary of Statefor International Environment Minister of State for International Environment 2022–present Incumbent Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom Preceded byThe Lord Hannan of Kingsclere GentlemenBaron Benyon Followed byThe Lord Cruddas
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