Owen William Paterson (born 24 June 1956) is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012-14. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament for North Shropshire at the 1997 general election. Paterson was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet of David Cameron in 2007 as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. During the formation of the Coalition Government in 2010, he was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, where he remained until being moved to DEFRA in 2012. He has since been more widely known as a leading supporter of Brexit and an outspoken critic of the European Union. In 2014, he established and became the Chairman of UK 2020, a centre-right think tank based in Westminster. In 2016, Paterson became part of Leave Means Leave's political advisory board.