Who is in charge at Defra? Technically, it’s the environment secretary George Eustice. But in recent weeks there have been whisperings of the growing influence of the Goldsmith clan. Zac Goldsmith is a minister in the department as well as a close friend of both Boris Johnson and his fiancé Carrie Symonds. Just this weekend, a No. 10 source came out to deny claims from the farming lobby that Symonds and Goldsmith had teamed up in a bid to tie up farmers in red tape to protect the environment.
It’s something of a family affair at the department with Goldsmith’s brother Ben a board director at Defra despite breaking his own department’s rules over the release of deer from his land – something which Zac’s boss George Eustice subsequently conceded in a Daily Mail interview. Red deer belonging to longstanding Tory donor Ben escaped from his Somerset farm in July because of inadequate fencing.
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