George Eustice was born and raised in Cornwall. The Eustice family have lived and worked in the Camborne and Redruth area for over four hundred years, first working in the mining and engineering industry and then later farming at Gwinear where they have lived for the past 150 years.聽聽聽His family still run a fruit farm, restaurant and farm shop in Cornwall where they also have a herd of South Devon cattle and the country鈥檚 oldest herd of the rare breed of pig, the British Lop.
George has been an MP since 2010. He was a member of the Environment and Rural Affairs Select Committee on which he concentrated on a variety of issues including water poverty in rural areas and dangerous dog legislation.
George was appointed the Minister for Farming, Fisheries and Food in October 2013, and served the department in that role for over five years until his resignation in February 2019, making him the longest serving DEFRA minister since the creation of the Department.聽He was then reappointed in July 2019, and served until his appointment as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs in February 2020, a role he has occupied since.
The Secretary of State has overall responsibility for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Specific responsibilities include:
- oversight of trade mandates and post-transition delivery and policy programme,
- international relations
- emergencies
- overall Departmental administration
- senior appointments