A man once allegedly described as a 'rottweiler' by David Milibandhas been elected chair of the environment, food and rural affairs (EFRA) commons select committee.
Neil Parish, who reportedly left school at 16 with no qualification to go and work on his family's farm in Somerset, has been Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton in Devon since 2010.
Parish, began his career in local government, serving as a parish, district and county councillor, before being elected to the European Parliament in 1999 for the South West England region.
He spent ten years in the European Parliament, and for the duration of that period, was a member of the committee on agriculture and rural development, even chairing it from January 2007 to July 2009.
It was during his time as chair of this committee that the elder Miliband brother - at the time the secretary of state for Defra - allegedly described Parish as a 'Rottweiler' for his 'dogged persistence'.
Shortly after entering the UK's parliament in June 2010, Parish was elected by his fellow MPs onto the Defra select committee, which he has now risen to chair.
His appointment has been welcomed by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA). CLA president Henry Robinson said: “We welcome Neil Parish MP as the chair of the new EFRA select committee. Both in his role as MP for a significantly rural constituency and as a member of the previous government’s EFRA committee, he has been a dedicated champion of rural issues.
'We look forward to working with him as the EFRA committee shapes policy on issues concerning rural businesses, the environment and communities in the countryside.”
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