New prime minister Liz Truss has appointed former minister for international trade Ranil Jayawardena as her secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs.
The North East Hampshire MP replaces the long-serving George Eustice – who, as a supporter to her leadership rival Rishi Sunak – was sacked by Truss yesterday after she was officially appointed prime minister by the Queen.
Married with a son and two daughters, Jayawardena, 36, has also been appointed deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, and is seen as a Truss loyalist.
A supporter of Brexit, he was elected to parliament in 2015 after serving as a councillor and ultimately as deputy leader of the Borough of Basingstoke & Deane.
After studying government at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he joined Lloyds Banking Group, and also boasted “wide-ranging” commercial experience from the pharmaceutical, construction, transport and leisure sectors, according to Defra.
Prior to holding his ministerial post at the Department for International Trade between May 2020 to September 2022, Jayawardena was a member of the International Trade, Home Affairs, Procedure and Arms Export Controls Committees.
He described his appointment to the top job at Defra as “a privilege”. And he echoed Truss’s recent commitment to boosting food production and food security by stressing in a tweet “it is so important to recognise where our food comes from”, adding “I know there is much to do.”
One of Jayawardena’s most recent achievements at DIT was the lifting of trade barriers in Mongolia for British poultry and fish exporters.
He tweeted in mid-August that the agreement offered “exciting opportunities” in a market worth £10m, and would mean British produce would be on sale in Mongolian KFC outlets. However, his comments drew an amount of ridicule on the social media platform due to the fact KFC had less than 15 outlets in the east Asian country.
His time at DIT has also attracted concerns from the farming sector over his free trade ideologies, with tenant farmer Rob Halliday tweeting “we mustn’t join a race to the bottom that damages the environment, welfare, health and consumer choice” – a sentiment echoed by many more this morning.
Meanwhile, Sam Lowe, a partner at trade policy advisory firm Flint Global, suggested Jayawardena’s appointment “neutered” Defra as an internal constraint within government on UK trade objectives.
“Defra’s influence over internal trade policy discussions had been growing since [David] Frost resigned. Alongside [his] Brexit role, he was the central clearing house for competing government trade priorities, and usually backed DIT,” Lowe tweeted.
Eustice – who had been secretary of state at Defra since 2020 and had served in junior ministerial positions at the department since 2013, is yet to comment on his sacking.
Other notable Truss appointments who could have an influence on the food sector include former leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch as international trade secretary, Thérèse Coffey as secretary of state for health and social care, and Jacob Rees-Mogg as secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy.
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