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 should be a full review of the electoral and political system. He proposed as part of this, a referendum on changing the electoral system to Alternative Vote Plus. David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader of the opposition, set out his proposal for reform in "The Guardian". He proposed strengthening the power of backbenchers over the government, and other measures as part of 'a radical redistribution of power'. Writing in the Guardian on 27 May 2009, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg suggested cancelling MPs holidays until 'the constitutional crisis sparked by the row over expenses is resolved'. Setting out a week