RANIL Jayawardena has resigned as environment secretary less than two months after replacing George Eustice in the role. 

Rishi Sunak, the new prime minister, has wasted little time in wielding the axe at Defra, making Mr Jayawardena the shortest-serving holder of the position since it was established in its current guise in 2001. It means the UK is searching for a ninth person to take on the role in just 12 years. 

His one month and 19 days is well short of Theresa Villiers' six months and 20 days. Tom King served as Secretary of State for the Environment for just five months and five days in the 1980s. 

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The departure of Mr Jayawardena - who has not publicly declared who he backed in the race to become Tory Party leader - is no surprise, and it is widely expected the new forestry minister will soon follow.

Forestry Journal: Trudy Harrison Trudy Harrison (Image: David Woolfall)

Trudy Harrison has herself been in the post for less than three weeks, but gave her support to Boris Johnson in his bid to return to Downing Street. 

More disruption at Defra - which is already dealing with repeated failure to hit tree-planting targets - is likely to upset industry figures, who have called on Mr Sunak to instil some "much-needed" political stability. 

Stuart Goodall, chief executive of Confor, said yesterday: “The Conservative party has now appointed its third leader in as many months, this has to be the last ‘throw of the dice’.

READ MORE: Rishi Sunak: Forestry figures plead with new prime minister to provide 'much-needed' stability

"We call on Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister to focus on providing much needed economic stability and on growing the economy while keeping the UK on track to meet our vital net zero target." 

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