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(Liam Clarke, Belfast Telegraph)

Thereasa Villiers, our new Secretary of State, has pledged to spend three days a week in her London constituency, leaving the other four split between Northern Ireland and Westminster. That is one of the few factual nuggets to emerge from two perfunctory interviews, one with The Times and the other with the BBC, she gave since taking the job.

She is waiting to read herself into the job before saying anything more detailed about the local problems.

"I will be in Northern Ireland for a period every week but I will be able to retain the routine of being in my constituency on Friday, Saturday and Sunday each week," she said.

"It will vary, but in the main it will just mean that rather than being in Westminster I will be in Belfast."

It was a complete surprise getting the job and she is still coming to terms with it. "I am looking forward to it," she said.

Asked about corporation tax, she said: "That is one of the issues I am going to be reading into very carefully."

This article appeared in the September 8, 2012 edition of the Belfast Telegraph.

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