Richard Benyon Minister for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2009 until the 2010 general election when he entered government. He was also one of the first 15 MPs to support David Cameron's Conservative Party leadership bid. In May 2009, he was listed by "The Daily Telegraph" as one of the "saints" in the expenses scandal exposed by that newspaper. He was made Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the first Cameron Ministry. and remained in post until the junior and middle ranking Cameron reshuffle of October 2013. In 2012, while Wildlife
United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal of criminal and tax evasion charges, and a motion of no confidence being prepared against the Speaker. Public interest in the expenses debate led to the 14 May 2009 edition of the BBC political and current affairs television programme "Question Time" recording its highest viewing figures in its 30-year run, of 3.8 million, with audience members heckling guest panellist Margaret Beckett. The following week's edition on 21 May was brought forward for a special edition into the prime time slot of 9 pm BST. Nadine Dorries, a Conservative MP, criticised the "Telegraph"'s handling, which she described as "picking off a