Career
Prior to beginning his career in politics, Parish managed his family's farm in Somerset. He began his career in local government, serving as a Parish, District and County Councillor. In the 1997 general election he contested Pontypool in Wales. He was soundly defeated by 24,536 votes.
Parish was elected to the European Parliament in the 1999 European Parliament election for the South West England region. He was re-elected in 2004 on the top of the Conservatives' party list.
Parish acted as an election monitor during Zimbabwean parliamentary election, 2000, where he criticised the conduct of Robert Mugabe's regime. During the 2008 Presidential election Neil Parish called on the British Government to reject the legitimacy of ZANU-PF and to recognise Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party as the democratically elected Government of Zimbabwe. Neil is still banned from re-entering the country after voicing his criticism.
For his entire career in the European Parliament he was a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. From January 2007 to July 2009 he was Chairman of the Committee. In December 2001, he was appointed Conservative spokesman on agriculture and he was also the delegation's deputy chief whip. He was instrumental in setting up the year long European Parliament's public Inquiry into the Foot and Mouth Outbreak and he is also a member of the European Parliament's inquiry into the collapse of Equitable Life. He also served as a substitute member on the Committee on Fisheries.
During his time as Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, it was reported that David Milliband, at the time the Secretary of State for DEFRA, had described Neil Parish as a "Rottweiler" for his dogged persistence.
In February 2007 Parish was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Tiverton and Honiton. The seat was previously held by the Conservative Angela Browning who is retiring. Parish did not stand for re-election in the 2009 European Parliament election.
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