Paice will not contest next election
Former farm minister Jim Paice has announced he will not contest his seat at the next election.
Sir Jim, Tory MP for South East Cambridgeshire, said he did not believe it was right to contest the next General Election and commit himself to the role into his 70s.
Speaking to his constituency party on Friday (8 March), Sir Jim said: “I have been fortunate to represent a wonderful constituency for what will be almost 28 years by the next election.
“It has always been at the forefront of economic growth in the UK while retaining much of what is great about our country. I have also been privileged to serve in two governments including as the minister of agriculture, which had long been my ambition.
“It has been an incredibly exciting and rewarding life, but if I go on I am committing myself into my 70s, which I do not believe would be right.
“I think now that it is time for the Conservative Party in South East Cambridgeshire to look to someone else to carry their hopes and aspirations over the coming years.”
Sir Jim has represented his constituency since 1987 and was elected for a sixth term in 2010 with a majority of 5,946.
Now on the backbenches, he maintains a keen interest in the agricultural world and serves on the Scottish Affairs Select Committee.
Sir Jim lost his job as farm minister in David Cameron’s Cabinet reshuffle last September, in an unexpected announcement that shocked the farming industry. Lib Dem Somerton & Frome MP David Heath replaced him.
Despite losing his job, Sir Jim, who farms in Cambridgeshire, maintained at the time that he would continue to work in agriculture and on agricultural policy.
True to his word, the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) announced on Friday (8 March) that Sir Jim has been appointed to the NIAB board.
NIAB board chairman Jeremy Lewis said Sir Jim’s knowledge and experience of the food and farming sectors, and his longstanding commitment to the cause of agricultural science would “undoubtedly help to strengthen NIAB’s continuing development as the UK’s leading centre for applied crop research and knowledge transfer”.
Sir Jim’s parliamentary links with agriculture date back to 1989, when he briefly held a farming post in Margaret Thatcher’s government.
From September 2004 until his return to government, Sir Jim served as Shadow Minister for Agriculture, a post he later took up in government.
In May 2010, he was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Agriculture and Food Minister) in the coalition government.
In 2009, he slammed the bovine TB situation as “absolutely scandalous and unacceptable” and demanded urgent government action to stop the spread of the disease. His comments followed the slaughter of 8,000 cattle in the
West Country during 2009.