Mr Boateng was the first black cabinet minister

Now his career is set for a different twist - standing down as an MP and becoming the UK high commissioner in South Africa if Labour wins the election.

BIOGRAPHY Educated in Ghana and at Bristol University 1975: Becomes solicitor 1987: Enters Parliament 1989-92: Labour Treasury spokesman 1992-97: Labour Lord Chancellor's Department spokesman 1997-98: Junior health minister 1998-99: Home Office Minister 200-01: Minister for Young People 2001-2002: Financial secretary to the Treasury

At the Treasury for the last three years he has supervised spending review talks and energetically defended successive Budgets on the television screens.

His ministerial career has seen him benefit more than once from the phrase: one man's tragedy is often another man's gain.

He entered the Cabinet as chief secretary to the Treasury in 2002 when Stephen Byers resigned as transport secretary after prolonged pressure.

And as a junior health minister, he was promoted to the Home Office as one of the knock-on effects of Ron Davies' sudden resignation as Welsh Secretary in 1998.

London reputation

Born in Hackney and of Ghanaian and Scottish descent, Mr Boateng first came to prominence in London in the late 1970s as civil rights lawyer, based in Lambeth and a familiar figure on protests at police activities in the city.

Ken Livingstone was his leader on the Greater London Council, where he started to establish a national reputation after his election to the authority in 1981.

Mr Boateng was among four ethnic minority MPs elected in 1987

It was the start of the GLC's heady days with Ken Livingstone as its leader.

Mr Boateng was at the time a keen supporter of radical left-wing causes.

He backed Tony Benn as deputy Labour leader in 1981 when the left-winger challenged Denis Healey for the position.

Policing work

While on the GLC, Mr Boateng became chairman of its police committee, in which role he campaigned for greater accountability and control over the Metropolitan Police, and vice-chair of its ethnic minorities committee.

He continued to be a persistent critic of the police, especially in relation to their dealings with the black and Asian communities.

At the count on the night of the 1987 election, Mr Boateng - overcome with elation at having just been confirmed as the MP for Brent South - famously declared: "Today Brent South, tomorrow Soweto!"

He is probably embarrassed by that old footage now.

Path to moderation

But of the new parliamentary intake, Mr Boateng was one of those to whom the tag of "man to watch" was attached.

In 1989 he was talent-spotted by then-leader Neil Kinnock and put on the front bench as a junior Treasury spokesman.

In opposition he was deputy to Lord Irvine, becoming a shadow spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's Department.

He kept that position right up to the 1997 election, and it came as a surprise when Tony Blair then appointed him junior minister for social care and mental health.

Mr Boateng is married with five children (some of whom he sent to private schools) and is a Christian Socialist.