Theresa Villiers has been appointed as Northern Ireland Secretary as British Prime Minister David Cameron's cabinet reshuffle moves Owen Paterson to the Department of the Environment.
Ms Villiers, 44, MP for Chipping Barnet, was an MEP before becoming a Conservative MP.
Mr Cameron appointed Ms Villiers to his shadow cabinet in 2005 as shadow chief secretary to the Treasury.
She takes up the post as the Northern Ireland Office considers reforms to powersharing structures at Stormont.
In a statement Ms Villiers said she was delighted with the appointment.
"I will be immersing myself fully in the issues over the coming days, getting out and about in Northern Ireland and meeting as many people as possible," she said.
“Huge progress has been made in Northern Ireland over recent years.
“As the headlines in the past few days demonstrate, however, we still have some way to go if we are to overcome the divisions in society and build a genuinely shared future.
“The (British) government will of course continue to stand by the agreements made over the past two decades and the political institutions they have established.
“I am acutely conscious of the need to continue our efforts to rebalance the Northern Ireland economy."
