BRANDON LEWIS HAS been appointed Northern Ireland Secretary after Julian Smith was sacked from Boris Johnson’s cabinet.

The Conservative MP has previously served as Minister of State for Security and deputy to the UK’s Home Secretary Priti Patel.

He today said he was “honoured” to have been appointed to the role.

“I am honoured to have been appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by the Prime Minister. This is an exciting time for Northern Ireland & I follow fantastic colleagues as predecessors, whose work I hope we can continue to build on,” he said.

Lewis has visited the North before.

In August 2018, the official Twitter account for the UK’s cabinet released a video showing Lewis visiting the region speaking out against the potential for a hard border.