‘I knew if we got Brexit campaign wrong, we wouldn’t get another chance’

THE ROLE of Minister for Farming and Fisheries is arguably not regarded as the most glamorous or highly soughtafter position in Government.

And yet, as the recent rows over chlorinated chicken imports and soaring food prices have revealed, it is an area that will be of critical importance in the preand post-Brexit landscape.

When last year’s referendum was announced, George Eustice was among the first to confirm his allegiance to the Leave camp.

This came as no surprise to the many who were aware that the Cornish MP’s first foray into politics was as a Ukip candidate in the 1999 European elections. But speaking to

he claims it was a tough decision – made harder by the prospect of defying his friend and leader, David Cameron.

“It was a difficult conversation that I had to have,” he says.

“I had hoped during the October of 2015 that we as a government would have set out an ambitious plan for renegotiation .... but it became very clear around that time that [David Cameron] really just wanted to get the referendum out the way and wasn’t very confident he could get much in the negotiation.

“In December 2015 he asked me whether I would help run the Remain campaign.

“It was a difficult for me because I felt a huge amount of personal loyalty to David and had been there from the start. But also I was conscious this was a once-in-a-generation decision, and if we got it wrong, we wouldn’t get another chance.”

Mr Eustice first encountered David Cameron when the pair were working on the party’s 2005 election campaign. He had been asked to come on board as head of press by the then-leader Michael Howard, while Cameron was tasked with drawing up the manifesto.

The 45-year-old remembers being impressed by the new MP’s “good judgement” at the time, and when he was approached to help out on his bid to replace Howard at the Conservative Party helm, he agreed. “I was involved it the first speech he did back in June 2005 when he was setting out his vision of modern compassionate conservatism, and I just thought that he had identified what the Conservative Party needed to become in order to make itself relevant again,” he explains.

“The other crucial thing for me was that Oliver Letwin backed David Cameron, and I have always been a huge supporter of Oliver so was quite influenced by the fact [he] had gone that way.

“And it was just quite an exciting opportunity.”

Also involved in that leadership campaign was the recently elected MP for Surrey Heath, Michael Gove. Mr Eustice was already well acquainted with the MP from his time as head of press for the No to the Euro campaign – a period when Gove was working for newspaper.

As a “like-minded” eurosceptic, Mr Eustice claims Mr Gove would often be invited to campaign strategy meetings, with the group using him “as a sounding board”.

The two have since campaigned alongside each other on the EU referendum, on Mr Gove’s own leadership bid in 2016, and – following Mr Gove’s appointment as the new Defra Secretary – they are now working together to deliver a Brexit that works for British farmers and fishermen. Mr Eustice has already seen three other Secretaries of State come and go since his initial appointment as a Parliamentary Under Secretary