Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food explained

Post:	Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Insignia:	Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government) (2022).svg
Insigniacaption:	Royal Arms of His Majesty's Government
Department:	Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Type:	Minister of the Crown
Reports To:	The Prime Minister
Seat:	Westminster
Nominator:	The Prime Minister
Appointer:	The Monarch
Termlength:	At His Majesty's pleasure
First:	Peter Walker
Formation:	9 September 1889
Last:	Margaret Beckett
Abolished:	27 March 2002

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889. In 1903, an Act was passed to transfer to the new styled Board of Agriculture and Fisheries certain powers and duties relating to the fishing industry, and the post was renamed President of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.

In 1919, it was renamed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. In 1954, the separate position of Minister of Food was merged into the post and it was renamed Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

On 8 June 2001, the Ministry merged with Secretary of State for the Environment into the office of Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. However, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was not formally abolished until The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Dissolution) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/794) came into force on 27 March 2002.

Until the Dissolution Order also made the necessary amendments to the law when it did come into force, many statutory functions were still vested in the holder of the office of Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, rather in the Secretary of State at large. For that reason, in a final twist, Margaret Beckett had to be appointed formally as the last Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as well as becoming the first Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

List of Agriculture Ministers and Board Presidents

Presidents of the Board of Agriculture (1889–1903)

Post created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889.^[1]

Portrait! Name
(Birth–Death)! colspan=2

Term of office	Party	Ministry
		The Right Honourable Henry Chaplin MP for Sleaford (1840–1923)	9 September 1889	11 August 1892		Conservative		Salisbury II
		The Right Honourable Herbert Gardner MP for Saffron Walden (1846–1921)	25 August 1892	21 June 1895	Liberal		Gladstone IV
					Rosebery
		The Right Honourable Walter Long MP for Liverpool West Derby (1854–1924)	4 July 1895	16 November 1900		Conservative	Salisbury (Con.–Lib.U.)
		The Right Honourable Robert William Hanbury MP for Preston (1845–1903)	16 November 1900	28 April 1903	Conservative
					Balfour (Con.–Lib.U.)

Presidents of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries (1903–1919)

Board of Agriculture superseded by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1903.

Portrait! Name
(Birth–Death)! colspan=2

Term of office	Party	Ministry
		The Right Honourable William Onslow 4th Earl of Onslow GCMG PC DL (1853–1911)	19 May 1903	12 March 1905		Conservative	Balfour (Con.–Lib.U.)
		The Right Honourable Ailwyn Fellowes MP for Ramsey (1855–1924)	12 March 1905	4 December 1905		Conservative
		The Right Honourable Charles Wynn-Carington 1st Earl Carrington KG GCMG PC JP DL (1843–1928)	10 December 1905	23 October 1911	Liberal		Campbell-Bannerman
Asquith
		The Right Honourable Walter Runciman MP for Dewsbury (1870–1949)	23 October 1911	6 August 1914		Liberal
		The Right Honourable Auberon Herbert 9th Baron Lucas PC (1876–1916)	6 August 1914	25 May 1915		Liberal
		The Right Honourable William Palmer 2nd Earl of Selborne KG GCMG PC (1859–1942)	25 May 1915	11 July 1916		Conservative	Asquith Coalition (Lib.–Con.–Lab.)
		The Right Honourable David Lindsay 27th Earl of Crawford PC FSA (1871–1940)	11 July 1916	10 December 1916		Conservative
		The Right Honourable Rowland Prothero MVO MP for Oxford University (1851–1937)	10 December 1916	15 August 1919		Conservative		Lloyd George (I & II) (Lib.–Con.–Lab.)

Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries, (1919–1954)

Portrait! Name
(Birth–Death)! colspan=2

Term of office	Party	Ministry
		The Right Honourable Arthur Lee 1st Baron Lee of Fareham GBE KCB PC (1868–1947)	15 August 1919	13 February 1921		Conservative	Lloyd George (I & II) (Lib.–Con.–Lab.)
		The Right Honourable Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen MP for Taunton (1865–1946)	13 February 1921	24 October 1922		Conservative
		The Right Honourable Sir Robert Sanders Bt MP for Bridgwater (1867–1940)^[2]	24 October 1922	22 January 1924	Conservative		Law
					Baldwin I
		The Right Honourable Noel Buxton MP for North Norfolk (1869–1948)	22 January 1924	3 November 1924		Labour		MacDonald I
		The Right Honourable E. F. L. Wood MP for Ripon (1881–1959)	6 November 1924	4 November 1925		Conservative	Baldwin II
		The Right Honourable Walter Guinness DSO MP for Bury St Edmunds (1880–1944)	4 November 1925	4 June 1929		Conservative
		The Right Honourable Noel Buxton MP for North Norfolk (1869–1948)	7 June 1929	5 June 1930		Labour	MacDonald II
		The Right Honourable Christopher Addison FRCS MP for Swindon (1869–1951)	5 June 1930	24 August 1931		Labour
		The Right Honourable Sir John Gilmour Bt DSO TD JP DL MP for Glasgow Pollok (1876–1940)	25 August 1931	28 September 1932	Conservative		National I (N.Lab.–Con.–Lib.N.–Lib.)
National II (N.Lab.–Con.–Lib.N.–Lib.)
		The Right Honourable Walter Elliot MC FRSE MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove (1888–1958)	28 September 1932	29 October 1936	Conservative
National III (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
		The Right Honourable William Morrison MC QC MP for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (1893–1961)	29 October 1936	29 January 1939	Conservative
National IV (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
		The Right Honourable Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith GBE MP for Petersfield (1899–1977)	29 January 1939	14 May 1940	Conservative
					Chamberlain War (Con.–N.Lab.–Lib.N.)
		The Right Honourable Robert Hudson CH MP for Southport (1886–1957)	14 May 1940	26 July 1945	Conservative		Churchill War (All parties)
					Churchill Caretaker (Con.–N.Lib.)
		The Right Honourable Tom Williams MP for Don Valley (1888–1967)	3 August 1945	26 October 1951		Labour		Attlee (I & II)
		The Right Honourable Sir Thomas Dugdale Bt TD MP for Richmond (1897–1977)	31 October 1951	20 July 1954		Conservative	Churchill III
		The Right Honourable Derick Heathcoat-Amory TD MP for Tiverton (1899–1981)	28 July 1954	18 October 1954		Conservative

Ministers of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1954–2001)

Portrait! Name
(Birth–Death)! colspan=2

Term of office	Party	Ministry	Ref.
		The Right Honourable Derick Heathcoat-Amory TD MP for Tiverton (1899–1981)	18 October 1954	6 January 1958	Conservative		Churchill III	^[3]
					Eden
Macmillan (I & II)
		The Right Honourable John Hare OBE MP for Sudbury and Woodbridge (1911–1982)	6 January 1958	27 July 1960		Conservative	^[4]
		The Right Honourable Christopher Soames CBE MP for Bedford (1920–1987)	27 July 1960	16 October 1964	Conservative	^[5]
					Douglas-Home
		The Right Honourable Fred Peart MP for Workington (1914–1988)	16 October 1964	6 April 1968		Labour	Wilson (I & II)	^[6]
		The Right Honourable Cledwyn Hughes MP for Anglesey (1916–2001)	6 April 1968	19 June 1970		Labour	^[7]
		The Right Honourable Jim Prior MP for Lowestoft (1927–2016)	20 June 1970	5 November 1972		Conservative	Heath	^[8]
		The Right Honourable Joseph Godber MP for Grantham (1914–1980)	5 November 1972	4 March 1974		Conservative	^[9]
		The Right Honourable Fred Peart MP for Workington (1914–1988)	5 March 1974	10 September 1976	Labour		Wilson (III & IV)
Callaghan
		The Right Honourable John Silkin MP for Lewisham Deptford (1923–1987)	10 September 1976	4 May 1979		Labour	^[10]
		The Right Honourable Peter Walker MBE MP for Worcester (1932–2010)	5 May 1979	11 June 1983		Conservative		Thatcher I	^[11]
		The Right Honourable Michael Jopling MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale (1930–)	11 June 1983	13 June 1987		Conservative		Thatcher II	^[12]
		The Right Honourable John MacGregor OBE MP for South Norfolk (1937–)	13 June 1987	24 July 1989		Conservative	Thatcher III	^[13]
		The Right Honourable John Gummer MP for Suffolk Coastal (1939–)	24 July 1989	27 May 1993	Conservative	^[14]
					Major I
Major II
		The Right Honourable Gillian Shephard MP for South West Norfolk (1940–)	27 May 1993	20 July 1994		Conservative	^[15]
		The Right Honourable William Waldegrave MP for Bristol West (1946–)	20 July 1994	5 July 1995		Conservative	^[16]
		The Right Honourable Douglas Hogg QC MP for Grantham (1945–)	5 July 1995	2 May 1997		Conservative	^[17]
		The Right Honourable Jack Cunningham DL MP for Copeland (1939–)	3 May 1997	27 July 1998		Labour	Blair I	^[18]
		The Right Honourable Nick Brown MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (1950–)	27 July 1998	8 June 2001		Labour	^[19]
		The Right Honourable Margaret Beckett MP for Derby South (1943–)	8 June 2001	27 March 2002		Labour		Blair II	^[20]

From 2002 the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was dissolved and ministerial responsibility formerly transferred to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Notes and References

1. Board of Agriculture Act 1889 (52 and 53 Vict c 30)
2. Sanders lost his seat at the 1923 general election.
3. Web site: Mr Derick Heathcoat-Amory . . 26 November 2017.
4. Web site: Mr John Hare . . 26 November 2017.
5. Web site: Mr Christopher Soames . . 26 November 2017.
6. Web site: Mr Thomas Peart . . 26 November 2017.
7. Web site: Mr Cledwyn Hughes . . 26 November 2017.
8. Web site: Lord Prior . UK Parliament . 26 November 2017.
9. Web site: Mr Joseph Godber . . 26 November 2017.
10. Web site: Rt Hon John Silkin . UK Parliament . 24 November 2017.
11. Web site: The Lord Walker of Worcester . UK Parliament . 24 November 2017.
12. Web site: Lord Jopling . UK Parliament . 24 November 2017.
13. Web site: Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market . UK Parliament . 24 November 2017.
14. Web site: Lord Deben . UK Parliament . 24 November 2017.
15. Web site: Baroness Shephard of Northwold . UK Parliament . 24 November 2017.
16. Web site: Lord Waldegrave of North Hill . UK Parliament . 24 November 2017.
17. Web site: Viscount Hailsham . UK Parliament . 24 November 2017.
18. Web site: Lord Cunningham of Felling . UK Parliament . 23 November 2017.
19. Web site: Rt Hon Nicholas Brown MP . UK Parliament . 23 November 2017.
20. Web site: Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP . UK Parliament . 23 November 2017.