Ranil Malcolm Jayawardena (born 3 September 1986) is a British politician who has been the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs since 2022. From 2020 to 2022, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade. He has been the Conservative Party’s Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Hampshire since 2015.
Jayawardena was born in London but relocated to Hampshire before commencing school. His schooling began at Robert May’s School in North East Hampshire, followed by Alton College. Jayawardena attended the London School of Economics before joining Lloyds Banking Group as senior management.
Ranil Jayawardena house: Where does Ranil Jayawardena live?
Jayawardena lives in Bramley, Hampshire.
North East Hampshire MP James Arbuthnot said in 2011 that he will retire at the next parliamentary election, which was scheduled for 2015.
In 2013, Jayawardena was elected as the constituency’s parliamentary candidate in an open primary. Future MPs Victoria Atkins and Helen Whately were also on the shortlist for the seat. He was elected as the constituency’s MP in the 2015 general election with 35,573 votes (65.9% share) and a majority of 29,916.
This was the election’s greatest margin of victory for any Conservative MP. During the election, the candidate for the UK Independence Party was suspended after threatening Jayawardena with death.
Prime Minister Liz Truss nominated him as Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs in September 2022. According to Farmers Weekly, he was “pretty unknown” in agriculture and had no firsthand experience.
