About Jim

Related Photographs

Jim is married with two grown-up sons and has been the Member of Parliament for South East Cambridgeshire since 1987.

Born in Felixstowe, Suffolk in 1949 Jim attended Framlingham College. From school he spent two years working on farms before attending Writtle Agricultural College and starting a career in farm management. For eight years before his election he was a Director of a training and management development company which was owned by a large farmer-owned business.

In his youth and early twenties Jim was active in the Young Farmers movement, becoming chairman of the Agricultural Policy Committee of the National Federation and representing the UK on the European Council of Young Farmers from 1975 to 1979.

In 1986 Jim was selected to succeed Francis Pym as the Conservative Candidate for South East Cambridgeshire.

On entering Parliament he served on the Select Committee for Employment before being appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Baroness Trumpington at the Ministry of Agriculture in 1989, then promoted to PPS to John Gummer as Minister of Agriculture and then Secretary of State for the Environment. In 1993 he introduced legislation to allow cash betting on Sundays so that racing could take place and compete with other leisure sectors. In 1994 he was appointed Under Secretary of State at the Department of Employment and in 1995 at the Department of Education and Employment where he was in charge of the Government's training programmes and the massive expansion of Further Education.

After the General Election of 1997 Jim was appointed Opposition Spokesman on Agriculture and has remained on the front bench ever since. Following the 2001 General Election, Jim was appointed Shadow Minister for Police. Then in September 2004 he was promoted to Shadow Secretary of State for Agriculture and Rural Affairs - a position he retained until the General Election in 2010.

Following the announcement of the formation of the Coalition Government in May 2010, the Prime Minister appointed Jim as Minister of State for Agriculture and Food.