A new face in the field of farming politics

THIS will be first glimpse, for many, of a new player in farming politics – Labour’s shadow Defra Secretary, Mary Creagh, seen here with Philip Rowbottom on a visit to his arable farm and grain storage business at Woolley, near Wakefield.

By The Newsroom

Published 7th Feb 2011, 11:14 BST

Mrs Creagh took the job in a reshuffle of the opposition front-bench team, following the election of Ed Miliband as Labour leader.

Hilary Benn, Defra Secretary in the last government, became Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.

Mrs Creagh met a varied group of local farmers, organised by the NFU, last month. Issues raised included the impact of feed and fuel prices, the need for a supermarket adjudicator and rural crime.

She has been MP for Wakefield since 2005. Before that, she was leader of the Labour group on Islington Council, London, and a lecturer at Cranfield School of Management. She previously worked for an international NGO in Brussels for five years and was public affairs manager for the London Enterprise Agency. She has two children.