Owen Paterson

Early life and career

Paterson was born in Whitchurch, Shropshire. He attended Abberley Hall School and Radley College, before beginning studies at Cambridge University, where he read History at Corpus Christi College. He then went on to the National Leathersellers College (now the British School of Leather Technology at the University of Northampton).

He joined the British Leather Company in 1979, becoming Sales Director in 1983 and managing director from 1993 to 1999. He was President of COTANCE (the Confederation of National Associations of Tanners and Dressers of the European Community), the European Tanners Confederation from 1996–98. He was a Director of Parsons and Sons leather company in Halesowen in the 1990s. Paterson is a Freeman of the City of London and a Liveryman of the Leathersellers' Company.

Member of Parliament

Paterson contested, but failed to win, the Wrexham seat in the 1992 general election, as the incumbent Labour MP extended his lead with a 2.4% swing. He is Member of Parliament for North Shropshire, being first elected at the 1997 general election with a majority of 2,195 and has increased his majority at each subsequent election, up to 16,584 in 2015.

He served on a number of committees including the Welsh Affairs Committee (1997–2001), the European Standing Committee (1998–2001), and the Agriculture Committee (2000–01). Paterson is a supporter of the Royal Irish Regiment, which has been based in his constituency at Tern Hill.

Front bench politician

Paterson was Shadow Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister from 2003 to 2005. As agriculture spokesman he campaigned for the dairy industry. He visited Michigan, Maryland and Washington to discuss Bovine TB policy, writing extensively on the issue facing the UK.

He travelled all over the North Atlantic to produce a landmark Green Paper on Fisheries. Paterson joined the crew of the Kiroan, one of the few remaining trawlers out of Fleetwood, Lancashire, to view the fishing practices that have been created by the EU's Common Fisheries Policy. He wrote the Green Paper "Consultation on a National Policy on Fisheries Management in U.K. Waters" which was used by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fish Fight Campaign.

Shadow Minister for Transport

Paterson served as Shadow Minister for Transport from 2005 to 2007. Whilst he was Shadow Minister for Roads, Paterson researched relevant best practice and the latest ideas from Europe and North America.

Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

He was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 2 July 2007.

Paterson negotiated an agreement with the Ulster Unionist Party to re-establish the traditional links between the two parties, which was broken in 1972. This included running joint Conservative/UUP candidates for the 2009 European and 2010 general elections.

News of this alliance was praised by several Conservatives, including Iain Dale and ConservativeHome. However, the alliance caused the UUP's only MP, Sylvia Hermon, to resign from the UUP. Lady Hermon retained her seat successfully against the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists in the 2010 Westminster election. The UUP lost seats at the assembly elections the following year.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Paterson was appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the Coalition Government on 12 May 2010. He was created a Privy Counsellor on 13 May 2010.

One of his first tasks was overseeing the publication and delivery of the Saville Report on the events of Bloody Sunday, which led to an apology by the Prime Minister David Cameron. He worked with the Treasury to deliver his promise of a consultation on the devolution of the power to reduce the rate of Corporation Tax to Stormont. Paterson has stated that "Rebalancing and rebuilding the economy is critical to the future prosperity of Northern Ireland and it is one of the Government's key priorities for Northern Ireland." He has been outspoken on the issue of integrated education in Northern Ireland. Currently 95% of Northern Ireland pupils attend a segregated school. Paterson believes segregated education is not working; in October 2010 he said: “there's a school in Belfast with no pupils and there's a school in Belfast with more staff than pupils. That's just a criminal waste of public money. We cannot go on bearing the cost of segregation and I don't see why the British taxpayer should continue to subsidise segregation."

Paterson made headlines as the first cabinet member to publicly oppose the Coalition Government's Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, defying David Cameron and ministerial convention.

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Paterson was appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in September 2012.

Despite his voting record "moderately for" laws to stop climate change, he is a climate change sceptic, and has not accepted David MacKay's offer of a briefing on climate change science. During his time in office, Paterson cut funding for climate change adaptation by approximately 40%. In 2014 the outgoing Environment Agency chair Chris Smith said that flood defence budget cuts had left the agency underfunded and hampered its ability to prevent and respond to flooding in the UK.

Paterson voted and spoke strongly against the fox hunting ban, in one speech likening supporters of the Bill to Nazis. Coming as Justine Greening was removed as Transport Secretary, Paterson's appointment was widely considered to be part of a move back towards the expansion of Heathrow Airport, given his support for aviation. Paterson stated on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions? in June 2013 that "the temperature has not changed in the last 17 years ...".

When asked in a 2013 BBC interview about the alleged failure of a badger cull he had been responsible for, Paterson famously replied that "the badgers have moved the goalposts."

Paterson is known as a strong supporter of GMO food technology. Even before he acceded to DEFRA in September 2012, he spoke at length in June of the same year at the Rothamsted Research facility and invited GMO innovators to take root in the UK. In December 2012, he labelled consumer opposition to the technology as a “complete nonsense”. In October 2013, he branded opponents to the development of a type of GMO rice enriched with vitamin A "wicked".

Paterson praises Britain’s shale gas reserves as “one unexpected and potentially huge windfall.”

Paterson was mentioned by journalist Benedict Brogan as a possible replacement on the European Commission when the term of Baroness Ashton expires.

Paterson was one of three MPs to leave the cabinet as part of the re-shuffle on 15 July 2014, and was succeeded by Elizabeth Truss as Environment Secretary. His departure was widely attributed to his handling of the summer floods and the badger cull.

In a blog for The Guardian, George Monbiot said Paterson was "the worst environment secretary this country has ever suffered". In a blog for Breitbart.com, James Delingpole said Paterson was "the other best thing in Cameron's Cabinet: principled, informed, diligent".

UK 2020

In 2014 Owen Paterson established UK 2020, an independent centre-right think tank, to develop policies to address challenging and complex public policy areas. In his role as Chairman, Paterson has delivered a number of speeches and written numerous Op-Eds on GM, global food security, the European Union, energy and climate change.

Personal life

Paterson married Rose Ridley, the daughter of Matthew Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley and sister of Matt Ridley in 1980. They have two sons and a daughter. They are Felix, Ned and Evie. Paterson speaks fluent French and German. His wealth is estimated at £1.5m.

Paterson is a keen horse rider and racer. He has ridden across Turkmenistan and most recently Mongolia. His daughter, Evie, is a successful eventer who won the British Junior Eventing Championships in 2008, aged 16.

In February 2014, he suffered from a detached retina and required urgent surgery to prevent loss of sight in that eye.

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