Theresa Villiers has been appointed secretary of state at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) by the UK’s new prime minister Boris Johnson.

The MP for Chipping Barnet takes over from Michael Gove, who held the position of Defra secretary since June 2017.

Villiers was Northern Ireland secretary of state from 2012 to 2016 for former prime minister David Cameron and has been an MP since 2005. Before that, she represented London in the European Parliament from 1999 until her election to the House of Commons in 2005.

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Villiers campaigned to leave the UK in the 2016 referendum and has remained a hardline Brexiteer having voted against Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement on the three occasions when it was put to MPs.

She is also an animal rights supporter having introduced a private members' bill to parliament in 2017 which aimed to ban the live export of farm animals from the UK.

Commenting on her appointment the Ulster Farmers Union president Ivor Ferguson said: “The Ulster Farmers’ Union previously engaged with Theresa Villiers on several issues whilst she was Northern Ireland Secretary of State and will work closely with her as Defra Secretary of State."

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