Conservative MP, Owen Patterson will be Northern Ireland’s new secretary.

Paterson has been shadow secretary in Northern Ireland since 2007. He was first elected in 1997 as MP for North Shropshire and has risen rapidly through the ranks since then.

The newly appointed Northern Ireland Secretary’s workload will be reduced due to this year’s devolution of policing and justice powers to Belfast, from London.

Conservative has, however, announced that they will make $8.9 billion world of saving. The Democratic Unionist Party predicts that this will mean a cut of $290 million in Northern Ireland.

Any implementation of this plan in Northern Ireland will face cross-party opposition.

The minister’s first budget will be due by June. Other challenges he faces include the publication of the Bloody Sunday Report.

Paterson was originally the head of a family leather tanning business. He studied in Cambridge and is a supporter of localism and free enterprise. He believes in minimizing taxation and bureaucracy.

In the past he has also acted as the shadow minister for agriculture.

In the past Patterson has held membership in Thatcherite groups such as Conservative Way Forward and the No Turning Back group. He is one of the most Eurosceptic on the Conservative bench.