Who Is James Paice?

I have been the Member of Parliament for South East Cambridgeshire since 1987. It is an area at the forefront of the new technologies in communication and healthcare whilst also including some of our most traditional industries and part of the best farmland in Britain. Born in Felixstowe, Suffolk in 1949 I attended Framlingham College. From school I spent two years working on farms before attending Writtle Agricultural College and starting a career in farm management. For eight years before my election I was a Director of a training and management development company which was owned by a large farmer owned business. In my youth and early twenties I was active in the Young Farmers movement becoming chairman of the Agricultural Policy Committee of the National Federation and representing the UK on the European Council of Young Farmers from 1975 to 1979. In the meantime I had joined the Young Conservatives becoming chairman of the Eye Constituency Young Conservatives and was elected to Suffolk Coastal District Council in 1976 at the age of 27. I remained on the Council until 1987 serving as chairman in 1983. In the General Election of 1979 I was the Conservative Candidate for the Caernarfon Constituency and in 1986 was selected to succeed Francis Pym as the Conservative Candidate for South East Cambridgeshire. On entering Parliament I served on the Select Committee for Employment before being appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Baroness Trumpington at the Ministry of Agriculture in 1989 then promoted to PPS to John Gummer as Minister of Agriculture and then Secretary of State for the Environment. In 1993 I introduced legislation to allow cash betting on Sundays so that racing could take place and compete with other leisure sectors. In 1994 I was appointed Under Secretary of State at the Department of Employment and in 1995 at the Department of Education and Employment where I was in charge of the governments training programmes and the massive expansion of Further Education. After the General Election of 1997 I was appointed Opposition Spokesman on Agriculture. Following the most recent General Election in June 2001, I was appointed Shadow Home Office Front bench Spokesperson for Police. In September 2004 I was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Agriculture and Rural Affairs. My special interests in Parliament are obviously farming, forestry and the countryside but also small business and employment issues, waste management and the racing industry.

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