Sir Eric Jack Pickles (born 20 April 1952) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar since 1992 and was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government until May 2015. He was previously the Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2009 to 2010 and is currently the chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel. Eric is now the United Kingdom Special Envoy for post-Holocaust issues, being appointed in 2015.