Our man in Westminster?

Number 10 has appointed Robbie Douglas-Miller, a Scottish landowner, as under-secretary for biosecurity, animal health and welfare by making him a peer. 

The Government made the surprise announcement that HM King Charles III was giving Mr Douglas-Miller the title of baron to allow him to enter the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as a minister. 

Mr Douglas-Miller, whose family once owned Edinburgh department store Jenners, has worked on numerous conservation projects and was awarded an OBE in 2021 for services to wildlife conservation in Scotland. He has been managing director of Moorfoot Capital since 2005 and is a former chairman of the Atlantic Salmon Trust. 

A source who works in Parliament and shoots told Shooting Times: “We know he owns a grouse moor. His appointment is likely the result of pressure within the Conservative Party to appoint a minister in Defra who is pro-shooting after the debacle of the reissuing of GL43 [the general licence covering gamebird release]. 

“It is suspected that he will now be the primary government point of engagement for shooting related policy issues.”