Boscawen no longer has egg on his face

New ACT Party deputy leader John Boscawen had egg on his face when he was smeared with a lamington during a debate last year.

Now the indignity goes to his colleague Heather Roy, who he ousted for the number two position today.

"It was my decision and my decision alone to challenge the deputy leadership," he told reporters.

Mr Boscawen is used to acting alone. Before entering Parliament as a list MP in 2008, he was a one-man campaigning machine, funding radio and newspaper ads to protest the Electoral Finance Act and setting up anti-reform group the Freedom of Speech Trust in 2007.

But the first-term MP is not without allies, most notably ACT leader Rodney Hide, who is also a vocal sceptic of man-made climate change.

Mr Boscawen's views are not always popular with the electorate. In a debate during the Mt Albert by-election last year, in which he was a candidate, a crowd member showed his displeasure by smearing his head with a slice of chocolate lamington cake.

But he has not shied away from heated issues since becoming an MP, taking stances against the Emissions Trading Scheme and the anti-smacking law.

He drew up a member's bill seeking to change the smacking law, saying it met the wishes of the more than 87 percent of voters who voted in a referendum on the issue.

The bill faced a crushing defeat in Parliament last year.

Mr Boscawen will be hoping for better results in his new ministerial portfolios, which he picked up today along with the deputy leadership.

He has taken on board Mrs Roy's position as Consumer Affairs Minister, and Mr Hide's role as Associate Commerce Minister.

He is already an active select committee member, sitting on the commerce, Auckland governance legislation, electoral legislation, and finance and expenditure committees.

Mr Boscawen joined ACT in 1995, and played an important role behind the scenes.

As well as being a board member and treasurer, he was campaign manager in Mr Hide's key Epsom electorate in the 2005 general election, and national campaign manager in the 2008 general election.

He has previously stood in the Epsom electorate, before Mr Hide.

Mr Boscawen has a business background, having been self-employed in finance and property investment since 1990.

He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Directors, and an associate member of the Business Roundtable.