Who is Northern Ireland's secretary of state?
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Who is Northern Ireland's secretary of state?
Chris Heaton-Harris has kept his position as Northern Ireland secretary after new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed his cabinet.
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Mr Heaton-Harris was originally appointed by Liz Truss and after the end of her short reign he has been retained by her successor, despite supporting Boris Johnson's bid for a return to 10 Downing Street.
He is the third Conservative MP to hold the role since July and continues to face some major challenges in the role, not least the lack of a functioning power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.
However, as a qualified football referee he is accustomed to being the man in the middle.
Who is Chris Heaton-Harris?
The MP for Daventry since 2010, Mr Heaton-Harris was previously government's chief whip - coincidentally (or perhaps not) a role also held by Julian Smith before he became Northern Ireland secretary in 2019.
He was at one stage a member of the European Parliament (MEP) and staunchly pro-Brexit.
For six years he chaired the Eurosceptic group of Conservative MPs - the European Research Group (ERG).
He drew controversy in 2017 when he wrote to UK universities asking for names of professors who taught courses on Brexit.
Why has he been chosen for the role?
Mr Sunak has kept many ministers from Ms Truss's cabinet in place, including at the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence, and has brought back several big names from Boris Johnson's cabinet including Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove.
It seems the new prime minister has opted for a degree of stability at the Northern Ireland Office as well, especially given the high turnover there in recent months.
Mr Sunak professes to share Mr Heaton-Harris's views on the Northern Ireland Protocol - the controversial part of the post-Brexit deal between the EU and UK which keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods.