46 Facts About George Eustice

Charles George Eustice was born on 28 September 1971 and is a British politician and former public relations executive who held office as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs between 2020 and 2022.

George Eustice later joined the Conservative Party and was the Director of Communications at CCHQ; and from 2005 to 2008, he served as David Cameron's Press Secretary during his tenure as Leader of the Opposition.

In 2009, George Eustice joined Portland Communications, a public relations company.

George Eustice was elected to the House of Commons in 2010.

In October 2013, as part of Prime Minister Cameron's ministerial reshuffle, George Eustice was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

George Eustice was retained by Prime Minister Theresa May; however, he resigned from this position on 28 February 2019.

George Eustice was reappointed to his previous role by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 25 July 2019.

George Eustice announced in January 2023 that he would not stand for reelection at the next UK general election.

George Eustice was born on 28 September 1971 into a farming family in Penzance.

George Eustice grew up at Trevaskis Fruit Farm, near Hayle.

George Eustice was privately educated at Truro Cathedral School then Truro School, followed by Cornwall College at Pool.

George Eustice was a member of Cornwall Athletic Club based at Carn Brea, Camborne and ran for Cornwall's cross country team.

At the 1999 European Parliament Elections George Eustice stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for UKIP in the South West of England.

In 2000, George Eustice was appointed as Campaign Director for "No", the campaign group to ensure that the UK did not adopt the Euro as the national currency.

George Eustice became Head of Press under Conservative Party leader Michael Howard during the 2005 general election.

On leaving Cameron's office, George Eustice worked for Portland Communications, a public relations company.

George Eustice had the second smallest majority of any Conservative elected at the 2010 election, with only Dan Byles 54 vote majority in North Warwickshire being lower, and the fourth smallest majority of any MP.

George Eustice was asked to take a leading role in the 2011 "No to AV Referendum" campaign, reportedly as a result of his work for Business for Sterling and the "No" Group, which campaigned to keep the pound and against the adoption of the Euro as currency in the UK.

George Eustice wrote an article in The Guardian on 10 June 2012, which argued for the UK to remain within the EU, but to seek reform from within.

On 17 May 2012, George Eustice was elected to the Executive Committee of the 1922 Committee as part of the "301 Group" of newer MPs.

George Eustice has supported statutory underpinning of independent press regulation which arose from the Leveson proposals.

George Eustice was a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee from 12 July 2010 until November 2013 and of the Privacy and Injunctions between July 2011 and March 2012.

George Eustice was appointed to work on Conservative rather than Coalition policies, with backbenchers including Jo Johnson, Jesse Norman, and Peter Lilley.

George Eustice was criticised by The Daily Telegraph in November 2012 for signing a letter calling for tougher regulation of the press on the grounds that he had previously been the subject of negative media coverage.

On 7 October 2013, George Eustice was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibility for farming and food, marine and fisheries, and animal health.

In May 2016, it was reported that George Eustice was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police in the United Kingdom general election, 2015 party spending investigation, for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses.

George Eustice was re-elected at the 2015 general election and 2017 general election.

George Eustice supported Leave in the 2016 EU membership referendum.

On 28 February 2019, George Eustice resigned from his position as Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in protest at Prime Minister Theresa May's promise to allow MPs a vote on delaying Brexit if her deal fails to get through.

George Eustice stated "it would be dangerous to go to the EU cap in hand at the 11th hour and beg for an extension".

On 13 February 2020, George Eustice was appointed as the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, replacing Theresa Villiers.

George Eustice described chlorine washes on chicken as "a very outdated technology" and said the UK government was committed to high standards for food safety and for animal welfare, saying there were "no plans" to change food standards laws.

George Eustice was criticised for an alleged closeness to the farming industry and for his enabling of badger culling.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson signalled an end to badger culling after George Eustice had overseen an expansion in licenses for it in 2020.

In late 2020, George Eustice repeatedly expressed support for the Internal Market Bill, despite the latter representing a breach of formal commitments made by the Conservative government of which he is a part, and a breach of international law.

George Eustice said that a Scotch egg was a substantial meal in law, so long as there is table service.

In December 2020, during a Sky News interview, George Eustice was shown footage of, and asked for his views about, Millwall FC supporters booing players taking a knee.

George Eustice declined to condemn the supporters' behaviour or to recognise it as racist, stating that he had not seen the incident and that "the issue of race and racial discrimination is something that we all take very seriously".

In January 2021, George Eustice broke his government's pledge to retain a ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been implicated in pollinator decline.

George Eustice announced the government would look at banning practices such as importing foie gras, inhumane poultry caging and inhumane penning of pregnant and suckling pigs.

George Eustice was dismissed by incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss on 6 September 2022.

George Eustice pledged in his election campaign to work to reduce the burden of water charges on Cornish homes.

In March 2013, George Eustice called for the Cornwall Centre, the new facility to house the county's store of historic manuscripts and Cornish materials, to be based in Redruth.

George Eustice based his call for the location to be Redruth because of the strong mining tradition in the town, which led to widespread migration across the world.

George Eustice led Conservative Party opposition to the Conservative Government's plans to impose VAT on hot food, which was known as the "pasty tax" which eventually led to what opponents claimed was a "U-turn" in Government policy.

George Eustice married Katy Taylor-Richards in May 2013; their ceremony took place in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft at the Palace of Westminster.