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 concluded his part in the debate over how to handle the expense scandal, by announcing that the Commons clerk had referred the matter of the leaked information to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Overall, Martin appeared to be more concerned with the nature of the leak of the information, which led to the "Telegraph"’s publishing details of MPs expenses and allowances, rather than offering an anticipated apology or explanation. The majority of the MPs felt Martin’s defensive approach and attacks on various MPs as whistleblowers and the backbenchers was a clear indication that Martin was no longer able to lead the