Ruth Kelly stepped into the Government's hot seat as Education Secretary - and into history as the youngest ever woman Cabinet minister.

The 36-year-old mother of four takes over from Charles Clarke, who becomes Home Secretary in the wake of the resignation of David Blunkett.

Her appointment as Education Secretary crowns a swift rise through the Labour ranks, but it will be no surprise to her political supporters.

She has long been recognised as a brilliant thinker who is already being touted as a possible future Prime Minister.

A practising Roman Catholic, she was born in Limavady, Northern Ireland and educated at Sutton High School, Westminster School, Queen's College, Oxford and the London School of Economics.

Ruth Kelly became economics' writer on The Guardian from 1990 to 1994 and deputy head of the Inflation Report Division of the Bank of England from 1994 to 1997.

To enter politics, in 1997 she took on sitting Bolton West Conservative MP Tom Sackville who had been in the post for 14 years, ousting him by more than 7,000 votes just a week before her 29th birthday to become one of the youngest MPs in the Commons. Eleven days later she gave birth to her first child.

In Parliament, she quickly became a Blair favourite and the following year was made parliamentary private secretary to Nick Brown at the Ministry for Agriculture.

Then, it was Gordon Brown who snapped her up to become his Economic Secretary in 2000, swiftly promoting her to the more senior post of Financial Secretary a year later when she also received the "Minister To Watch" accolade in the Parliamentarian of the Year Awards.

In her Treasury post, she impressed with regular front bench appearances, and in September this year, Tony Blair took her to work in the Cabinet Office with Alan Milburn to mastermind Labour's election campaign.

Throughout her remarkable rise through the political ranks, Ruth Kelly has also become something of a role model for working women.

She is the mother of three daughters and a son and is married to trade union official Derek Gadd.

She has strong views on abortion - seen by some as a potential sticking point to her 10 Downing Street aspirations - and has already championed a number of moves to underpin family life, including a scheme for paid parental leave which is likely to be one of the main elements of Labour's manifesto at the next General Election.

Although her work in Whitehall has taken a massive amount of her time, the busy MP has always insisted on being highly visible in her constituency whenever possible.

She had three of her children at the Princess Anne Maternity Unit at the Royal Bolton Hospital, and regularly returns to the town to attend public events and to keep abreast of constituents' views.

Her hobbies include walking, swimming and, when possible, watching Bolton Wanderers. Visiting local schools has always been a part of that work, and this interest in education will now take on a vastly different aspect in her latest top job.

When she sits down at her new desk in the Department for Education and Skills, Ms Kelly will find a full and demanding in-tray.

The most immediate matter that will require her attention will be the Government's eagerly anticipated response to the Tomlinson report.

The former chief inspector of schools Mike Tomlinson recommended that A levels and GCSEs should be replaced with a new diploma system in the most radical shake-up of exams for 60 years.

She will also have to develop a strategy for coping with the prospect of her department missing more key targets.

After a few years of success in primary school results in English, maths and science tests, the rate of improvement has slowed recently. And it will be crucial to her success in the eyes of Tony Blair that she drives forward his flaghship city academy scheme.

But for today, Ruth Kelly will be the much publicised new broom coming into a complex department.

As well as settling in to the new job, she will find she has to take on several political hot potatoes.

And more than her Bolton West constituents will be keeping an interested eye on how this thoroughly modern MP now performs.