NORTHERN Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson is to leave his post as part of Prime Minister David Cameron's reshuffle, Government sources indicated.
Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, is to take up the vacant role, with Mr Paterson moving to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Ms Villiers takes up the post as the Northern Ireland Office considers reforms to powersharing structures at Stormont and comes under pressure to deal with growing tensions over parading in Northern Ireland.
Ms Villiers, 44, was an MEP before becoming a Conservative MP.
She attended Oxford and is a former barrister.
She has taken an interest in aviation policy, objecting to the expansion of airports in the south-east of England and supporting high speed rail links.
Mr Cameron appointed Ms Villiers to his shadow cabinet in 2005 as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.
At David Cameron's first reshuffle in July 2007, she was given her own portfolio - transport.
- Steven McCaffrey
Meat Trade News Daily Supporting British Pig Farmers
Source: irishindependent.
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