Margaret Beckett (63), who once briefly led the Labour Party - the first woman to do so - has now become Britain's first woman foreign secretary.
She is a gritty left-winger who had no difficulty in easing herself into the centre ground under Tony Blair and has been one of the great survivors of the Blair era.
In his 1997 administration she was trade and industry secretary and then, as Commons leader, her wry humour, combined with a streak of stubbornness, earned her respect in all parts of the House. In 2001, she became secretary of state for the new department, environment, food and rural affairs.
Despite her left-wing credentials, she has proved a loyal lieutenant to Mr Blair. Mrs Beckett had already become the first woman to be elected to the deputy leadership of the party - in 1992 - and she took over the reins when the then leader John Smith died suddenly in May 1994, but was beaten by Tony Blair in the leadership battle. She was a principal architect of Labour's renewed vigour and aggression during the mid-1990s.
She was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, in January 1943 and trained as an apprentice engineer before being drawn into politics.
She lost her Lincoln seat in the 1979 election which swept Margaret Thatcher into Downing Street, and became a TV researcher. That year, aged 36, she married her political mentor Leo Beckett, chairman of her local Labour Party. He is now a central member of her team.
- (PA)