Former environment secretary Owen Paterson, who was replaced by Liz Truss in a government reshuffle last month, has set up a think tank to provide a "radical conservative vision." The focus of Paterson's project will be on encouraging Britain to leave the EU and slash regulations relating to climate change, though he hopes the project's influence will spread "beyond Westminster".

Owen Paterson, who expressed climate 'sceptic' views whilst in office will later this year be delivering a keynote speech at the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a climate change deniers' think tank set up by former chancellor Lord Lawson. The organisation was recently forced to divide its campaigning and educational arms, and is set to re-launch in September, after the Charity Commission found it failed to provide balanced material.

During his time at Defra, Paterson issued massive cuts to climate change adaptation funding.

After his sacking, the former Defra chief made no attempt to hide his displeasure. In an interview with the Telegraph, Paterson took aim at environment NGOs and the Green Party, which he referred to as "little more than anti-capitalist agitprop groups" and "a tangled triangle of unelected busybodies." Friends of the Earth, in return claimed the former secretary of state was "Paranoid and never fit to hold ministerial office."

Though he has yet to reveal the identities of donors to the think tank, Paterson has reportedly raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for his project. He has also begun advertising jobs at the think tank, provisionally called UK2020, since his move was featured in The Times on Saturday.