Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling was appointed Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in May 2006. Previously he was at the Department for Transport and Secretary of State for Scotland.
Mr Darling was Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions from June 2001 to May 2002; Secretary of State for Social Security between July 1998 and June 2001, and Chief Secretary to the Treasury from May 1997 to July 1998.
He was the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from July 1996 to April 1997, Opposition Spokesman on the City and Financial Services between 1992 and July 1996 and in the Opposition Home Affairs Team from 1988-92.
Mr Darling attended Loretto School, Musselburgh, and studied law at Aberdeen University.
He worked as a solicitor in Edinburgh before being called to the Scottish Bar and admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1984. He has been the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central since 1987.
Before becoming an MP, he was a member of Lothian Regional Council, and Chairman of the Council's Transport Committee.
Mr Darling is married to Margaret Vaughan and has two children.
The office of Chancellor of the Exchequer dates from about the 13th century. In the mediaeval Exchequer there was both a Treasurer and a Chancellor.
The Treasurer was responsible for superintending every Department while the Chancellor acted as a check upon the accounts of the Treasurer. Over the years, the Treasurer and the Chancellor delegated more of their duties to, respectively, the Under Treasurer of the Exchequer and the Chancellor's clerk.
In the reign of Henry III, the Chancellor's Clerk became an officer of the court as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Under Elizabeth 1, the office of Under Treasurer was joined to that of Chancellor of the Exchequer.
It wasn't until the eighteenth century, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer became the second Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, and the PM became the first Lord of the Treasury, that the office assumed something like its modern form.