Mrs Leadsom will take over responsibilities at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) from Liz Truss, who has been promoted to Justice Secretary in the cabinet reshuffle.
She joins minister of state George Eustice MP, and parliamentary undersecretary of state Rory Stewart – who currently presides over the waste and resources brief – at the department.
An advocate of the campaign to leave the EU, Mrs Leadsom had come to national attention in recent weeks as a possible contender for the Conservative leadership – and Prime Minister of the UK.
But her hopes were dashed on Monday (14 July) when the candidate announced she was pulling out of the race, saying it was “in the best interest of the country”.
Mrs Leadsom’s sudden withdrawal paved the way for Theresa May to enter Number 10 yesterday, when she was formally sworn in as the UK’s 76th Prime Minister.
A spokesman for Defra said: “The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Andrea Leadsom MP as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.”
Energy
As a former minister of state for Energy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) under David Cameron’s administration, Mrs Leadsom has some experience dealing with the renewables sector.
But, her appointment as the head of Defra is still likely to be viewed as a surprise choice by many environmental industries, including waste and recycling.
Her parliamentary record shows that she voted in favour of establishing the Green Investment Bank in 2012 – but more recently voted to apply the Climate Change Levy to electricity generated from renewable sources and opposed setting a decarbonisation target.
Mrs Leadsom’s views on waste and recycling are not widely known, but in 2007 she penned a blog post on her constituency website calling for councils to retain weekly waste collections.
“It seems that the fortnightly collection that more and more councils are moving to is about the cost of rubbish collection, not about reducing landfill,” she wrote.
Liz Truss
Mrs Truss meanwhile will remain in the cabinet as Justice Secretary, a position which also makes her the first female Lord Chancellor in history.
In a message posted to Twitter she said: “Sad to be leaving Defra after two fantastic years. Great team and loved working with farmers, food producers and environmental groups.”
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