LIZ Truss, who succeeded Owen Paterson as environment secretary in this week’s cabinet re-shuffle, has only been an MP for four years.

Brought up in Leeds, she entered Parliament in 2010 as Conservative MP for south -est Norfolk, and was appointed minister for education and childcare.

At 38, she is the youngest member of the Cabinet.

After attending Roundhay Comprehensive School in Leeds, she studied philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford, where she was president of the Liberal Democrats before switching to the Conservatives.

A qualified management accountant, she spent ten years in the energy and telecommu-nications industry, with Shell and Cable and Wireless, as a commercial manager and economics director.

In 2008, she was appointed deputy director of the Reform think tank, which promoted the introduction of private sector expertise into the delivery of public services.

In Parliament, she founded the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs which campaigns for economic reform and a positive attitude to profitmaking enterprise.

Ms Truss, who is married with two daughters, represents a constituency where farming is vital and which Baroness Shepherd, a former minister of agriculture, fisheries and food, previously represented.

Her website speaks of her concerns about the use of agricultural land for solar or biomass plants and the subsidies they receive.