Environment minister Richard Benyon has stepped down from his post as the latest Coalition reshuffle gets underway.

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Benyon, MP for Newbury, Berkshire is said to be the richest member of the House of Commons. He announced on Monday morning that he would be stepping down as parliamentary under-secretary.

A reshuffle, being conducted by leaders of all three major parties on Monday is expected to result in more female and northern MPs being promoted in the governing Tory party, which has suffered as a result of the homogeneity of its front bench.

The former minister tweeted, "On back benches! 3 and half really fun years with much achieved. Really appreciate time working with outstanding Ministers and Officials."  

Monday's reshuffle was sparked on Friday when former Transport Minister Simon Burns resigned to compete for the position of Deputy Commons Speaker.

In 2012, whilst serving as environment minister, Benyon came under fire when quarrying company Hanson Aggregates was given permission to extract thousands of tonnes of sand and gravel from land on his family estate.

during his time at Defra Benyon's ties to the shooting lobby and potential conflicts of interest were brought into question on several occasions, first In 2012 when he refused to make possession of poison carbofuran, commonly used to kill birds of prey, a criminal offence, and then when he supported a proposed research project (eventually dropped) to capture buzzards and destroy the protected species' nests to examine whether this led to a drop in the number of pheasant poults consumed by the birds.

Although his work securing a commitment to end 'discards' as minister responsible for fisheries was praised by many, including shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh who lamented his departure on Monday, he came in for criticism in December 2012 when he successfully blocked proposed cuts to UK fishing quotas.

The Prime Minister's Office announced on Monday afternoon that Benyon would be replaced by Tory MP for Redruth (South Cornwall) George Eustice. North Cornwall Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson will also serve as an undersecretary at Defra, replacing farming minister David Heath.

Eustice, who worked as Prime Minister David Cameron's press secretary during his bid for leadership of the Conservative party and prior to that stood unsuccessfully as a UKIP candidate in the 1999 European elections, is the son of a strawberry farmer and also stood on the EFRA standing committee, which evaluates Defra policies and performance.