Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

United Kingdom Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Flag of the United Kingdom
Incumbent Liz Truss since 15 July 2014
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Style	The Right Honourable
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Inaugural holder	Margaret Beckett
Formation	8 June 2001
Website	ww2.defra.gov.uk/

Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a UK cabinet-level position in charge of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the successor to the positions of Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Responsibilities

The Secretary of State has three main responsibilities at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to:

• bear overall responsibility for all Departmental issues.
• represent the UK at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council and at the EU Environment Council.
• lobby for the UK in other international negotiations on sustainable development and climate change.

Secretaries of State

Secretary of State for the Environment (1970–1997)
Name			Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Peter Walker		15 October 1970	5 November 1972	Conservative		Edward Heath
	Geoffrey Rippon		5 November 1972	4 March 1974	Conservative
	Anthony Crosland		5 March 1974	8 April 1976	Labour		Harold Wilson
	Peter Shore		8 April 1976	4 May 1979	Labour		James Callaghan
	Michael Heseltine		5 May 1979	6 January 1983	Conservative		Margaret Thatcher
	Tom King		6 January 1983	11 June 1983	Conservative
	Patrick Jenkin		11 June 1983	2 September 1985	Conservative
	Kenneth Baker		2 September 1985	21 May 1986	Conservative
	Nicholas Ridley		21 May 1986	24 July 1989	Conservative
	Chris Patten		24 July 1989	28 November 1990	Conservative
	Michael Heseltine		28 November 1990	11 April 1992	Conservative		John Major
	Michael Howard		11 April 1992	27 May 1993	Conservative
	John Gummer		27 May 1993	2 May 1997	Conservative
Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1997–2001)
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	John Prescott		2 May 1997	8 June 2001	Labour		Tony Blair
			Ministers of State responsible for the Environment: Michael Meacher (1997–2001) Richard Caborn (1997–1999) Nick Raynsford (1999–2001)
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2001–present)
Name		Portrait	Term of office		Political party	Prime Minister
	Margaret Beckett	60px	8 June 2001	5 May 2006	Labour		Tony Blair
	David Miliband		5 May 2006	27 June 2007	Labour
	Hilary Benn	60px	28 June 2007	11 May 2010	Labour		Gordon Brown
	Caroline Spelman		12 May 2010	4 September 2012	Conservative		David Cameron (Coalition)
	Owen Paterson		4 September 2012	14 July 2014	Conservative
	Elizabeth Truss		15 July 2014	Incumbent	Conservative
							David Cameron (II)

See also

• List of Secretaries of state for the environment; Secretaries of state for the environment, transport and the regions