Owen William Paterson (born 24 June 1956) is a British former politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2012 and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2012 to 2014 under Prime Minister David Cameron. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Shropshire from 1997 until his resignation in 2021. Paterson was also the President of the Northern Ireland Conservatives.
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 Northern Ireland Secretary, where he remained until being moved to Environment Secretary in 2012. He was dismissed as Environment Secretary by Prime Minister David Cameron as part of the 2014 Cabinet reshuffle, and was replaced by Liz Truss. After returning to the backbenches, Paterson became a leading supporter of Brexit as a member of the European Research Group (ERG).
Paterson resigned from the House of Commons on 5 November 2021 amid controversy surrounding a report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards that found that he had broken paid advocacy rules.
Paterson was born in Whitchurch, Shropshire, and grew up on his family's farm. He attended Abberley Hall School and Radley College, before reading History at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He then went on to the National Leathersellers College (now the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies at the University of Northampton).
He joined his family business, 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 to 1998. 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.
At the 1992 general election, Paterson contested Wrexham, but the incumbent Labour MP extended his lead with a 2.4% swing.
Paterson was first elected as the Member of Parliament for North Shropshire at the 1997 general election with a majority of 2,195 and increased his majority at each subsequent election, up to 22,949 in 2019.
He served on several 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.
From 2001 to 2003, Paterson served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition. He 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 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".
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
Paterson was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 2 July 2007.
He negotiated an agreement between the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionist Party to re-establish the traditional links between the two parties, which had been 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. The renewed alliance caused the UUP's only MP, Sylvia Hermon, to resign from the UUP. Lady Hermon retained her seat 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 Councillor 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 in January 1972, 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 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 was the first cabinet member to publicly oppose the Coalition Government's Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, defying David Cameron and ministerial convention.