Sir Brian Mawhinney is an abrasive Ulsterman.

John Major's party chairman for the 1997 massive election defeat and was knighted in the dissolution honours for his services.

Became William Hague's shadow home secretary (to Jack Straw) but was unhappy in the post, and dropped out of the shadow cabinet at the first reshuffle in June 1998, to return to the backbenches.

Said to be only the second Ulsterman since Walpole's time to reach the cabinet.

Has a tendency to attack the media - one famous row involved broadcaster Sue McGregor on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Rose as a minister through a six-year spell at the Northern Ireland office under Tom King (where he took Protestant flak over the Anglo-Irish Agreement and promoted educational reform), and the health department, to be briefly Transport Secretary, where he was mainly concerned with rail privatisation.

Moved constituency in 1997 from Peterborough (where he anticipated the loss to Labour) to safer Cambridgeshire North West and was therefore accused by Labour of joining "the chicken run".

Has a PhD in radiation medicine, in which he lectured.