ALISTAIR DARLING

Chancellor of the exchequer Survivor who relishes his reputation as one of the most boring men in politics. He has played a canny game to win the second most powerful job in government, keeping a foot firmly in the Brown camp in recent years while remaining loyal to Blair.

In private, he can be engaging with a sharp sense of humour.

DAVID MILIBAND

Foreign secretary Foreign Office officials are said to be over the moon about their fresh-faced new boss, the youngest foreign secretary for 30 years.

Westminster’s supergeek (his idea of an insult is to call someone a “clot”), he got a first at Oxford, and was dubbed “Brains” by Blair’s spin doctor Alastair Campbell.

Until 1997 he was in charge of Blair’s policy unit. He is a devoted father to his toddler son Isaac, who was adopted from America.

DOUGLAS ALEXANDER

International development Alexander worked as Brown’s researcher in 1990 and has since been a close ally of the prime minister.

At 17, Alexander won a scholarship to attend an international college in Vancouver, Canada, for two years and later went to Edinburgh University to study politics and modern history.

As well bringing him into the cabinet, Brown has made him Labour’s co-ordinator for the next general election.

Surprise arrivals

SHAUN WOODWARD

Northern Ireland secretary The only Labour MP with a butler. The son of a porter and barmaid, he achieved a double first in English literature at Cambridge and was a TV producer before joining the Tories to run their 1992 election campaign. He defected to Labour in 1999.

His fortune of more than £40m is largely due to his marriage to Camilla Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty.

LORD MALLOCH BROWN

Minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations Former aid worked who became UN deputy secretary-general. He’s an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war: comments he made on the subject last year were described by the US ambassador to the UN as the “worst mistake” by a UN official in 20 years.

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