Salford people are blessed with 'courage, determination, wit and compassion, and... an unrivalled ability to see through falseness and to expose insincerity', said the city's Labour MP, Hazel Blears, in her maiden speech last May.

It is unclear whether such qualities will count for or against the Salford- born Ms Blears as she gets to grips with her new job as parliamentary private secretary to health minister Alan Milburn. Indeed, the vacancy arose because her predecessor, Mick Clapham, MP for Barnsley West and Penistone, was arguably demonstrating Salfordian qualities when he resigned over the government's proposed benefit cuts in December.

As one of the new intake of MPs, Ms Blears has been labelled - to her irritation - a 'Blair babe'; however, this former chair of Salford community health council does not appear the ultra-loyal, on-message automaton of media caricature.

Two years ago she opposed the scrapping of clause 4 of the Labour Party constitution on the grounds that inequality was bad and wealth redistribution was good - a general rule she still believes in.

A solicitor for Manchester city council, and former Salford city councillor, she lost Bury South by 700 votes at the 1992 election - a result she blames on Labour's tax plans, which she then supported but now considers 'a misjudgment'.

Her four years at the CHC coincided with internecine NHS wars over service reorganisation, including the Booth Hall Children's Hospital closure - an explosion of petty rivalries which convinced her of the stupidity of the internal market.

Elected with a majority of 17,000 last May, she has made relatively few contributions to Commons debates.

However, in December's white paper health debate she lobbed health secretary Frank Dobson an easy question on GP commissioning pilots in which she praised Salford Health Action Group, 'despite its unfortunate acronym'.

Mr Dobson, never one to pass up such golden opportunities, replied: 'There are some who suggest I am noted for my vulgarity, but never in the chamber - or at least not this chamber.'

Ms Blears jokes that this exchange got her the job as PPS - Mr Milburn's 'eyes and ears' in the Commons, with the task of 'making sure backbenchers understand the issues behind the headlines'.

Other political interests include home affairs and crime, and the arts, any of which might offer a way up the political ladder. Not that she admits to ambition. But as she said in her maiden speech: 'We in Salford are famous for having our feet on the ground, but we also know how to dream.'

Topics