Andrea Leadsom appointed new Defra Secretary of State at Defra and new ministers also confirmed

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New Prime Minister Theresa May has confirmed Andrea Leadsom MP as the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The MP for South Northamptonshire has been in Parliament since 2010 and previously served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from April 2014 and Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change since May 2015.

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However, under her new Government, the Prime Minister has decided to abolish DECC and integrate it into the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy run by Greg Clark MP.

The Prime Minister also confirmed the new ministerial team at Defra. George Eustice MP remains at Defra but is promoted to Minister of State after previously being Parliamentary Undersecretary.

Thérèse Coffey MP has been appointed as Parliamentary Undersecretary at Defra as has Lord Gardiner of Kimble.

At the time of writing, ministerial responsibilities at Defra had not been confirmed.

Thérèse Coffey is the MP for Suffolk Coastal and was elected in 2010. Her previous role was as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. Prior to that she was Assistant Government Whip, and before that Parliamentary Private Secretary to Michael Fallon when he was Minister for Business and Energy.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble is a Conservative Life Peer. He served as private secretary to five successive chairman of the Conservative Party between 1989 and 1995. He is deputy chief executive of the Countryside Alliance.

In 2012 he was appointed as a Lord-in-Waiting and served in the Lords as a government whip and spokesman on the Cabinet Office; Business, Innovation and Skills and Energy and Climate Change.

After that, from May 2015, he was promoted to be Captain of the Queen’s Bodyguard of the Yeoman of the Guard and Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords.