Chief Whip McLoughlin prepares to dig deep
His staff call him "The Chief" in almost affectionate terms. But Patrick McLoughlin is not only the boss, but the coalition government's number one enforcer.
If this coalition government is to survive, it will be up to David Cameron's Chief Whip... the MP for Derbyshire Dales.
Patrick McLoughlin's office in parliament is just behind central lobby by the doors to the Commons. Visiting him there is like going into a headmaster's study. Patrick McLoughlin welcomed me with a broad smile, but the Chief Whip's office is where political heads have to be knocked together to prevent a government defeat.
But in the coalition, does this parliamentary enforcer also have the whip hand over his Lib Dem partners?
"I don't really see myself as an enforcer, " he told me. He meets Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dems' chief whip daily to talk through parliamentary business... and to head off any trouble on the back benches.
On the wall of his office, there's an old election poster from when he fought his first parliamentary election in Wolverhampton. It's also a reminder of his days as a miner in the Midlands coalfield.
The photograph captures him as he emerged - face covered in coal dust - from a shift underground.Two decades later, he now has one of the most powerful jobs in a government that's making controversial sweeping cuts to public spending: jobs and services will be on the line.
"No politician likes to make cuts in spending. But it's the situation we inherited from the last Labour government. It's going to be a difficult period ahead. But we have already had many suggestions emailed to us from the public on where cuts can be made.""My own local councils Derbyshire Dales and Derbyshire County Council will want to look at how to they provide services and where other savings can be made."
Patrick McLoughlin became an MP in 1986, representing West Derbyshire and three years later, he got his first ministerial job in Mrs Thatcher's government. By 2005, Mr McLoughlin was Opposition Chief Whip and after May's General Election, he became the coalition's Chief Whip.
"It's a great honour to be in government. We don't underestimate the huge problems that we face, and one's always got to be careful.You never know in politics what's around the corner."
That's very wise advice. David Cameron's enforcer... the MP for Derbyshire Dales... knows this government will have to dig deep as the spending cuts bite.
Hello. My name is John Hess. I'm the BBC's Political Editor for the East Midlands and this blog will offer my musings on the political scene from Westminster to closer to home. 
