Employment Minister Andrew Smith is among those celebrating promotion in the prime minister's cabinet reshuffle.

Mr Smith has been promoted to the cabinet as chief secretary to the Treasury, a move necessitated by Alan Milburn taking up the health portfolio.

He will be the second Treasury representative around the cabinet table, after Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Mr Smith replaces Alan Milburn at the Treasury

As part of David Blunkett's team, Mr Smith has been responsible for implementing Mr Brown's New Deal initiative.

Now the pair will be working even closer together at the Treasury.

Mr Smith, who is 48, was born in Berkshire and educated in Reading and at Oxford.

After leaving the university, he worked for the city's Co-operative Society.

He entered Parliament in 1987 as MP for Oxford East with a mere 1,288 majority over the Conservative candidate, Steve Norris.

It was a triumph for the quietly spoken local councillor, who had joined the Labour Party at 22, had become a councillor at 25 and was selected as the candidate for the seat at 31.

His maiden speech was in favour of keeping Austin Rover in the "ownership of the British people" and car industry issues became a common theme, as Rover workers were part of his constituency.

In opposition, he held the positions of spokesman on education and economic affairs.

He also shadowed the position he has now been promoted to, the chief secretary to the Treasury, as well as being transport spokesman.

Mr Smith and Chancellor Gordon Brown both attend cabinet

It was in the role of transport spokesman that he promised Labour would never sell off Britain's air traffic control services, saying "our air is not for sale".

When Labour came to power in 1997, Mr Smith was made a minister in the Department for Education and Employment under David Blunkett and a privy councillor.

His portfolio included employment, equal opportunities and disabled rights.

He became "Labour's Mr Jobs", implementing the party's New Deal.

Although the New Deal has failed to capture the headlines, Mr Smith's promotion is recognition of his efforts in implementing the initiative.

And only last month, Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the scheme would be extended during his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference.

That was received as a mark of the scheme's success and, perhaps, that of Mr Smith who is now being rewarded by his first cabinet post.