He held the key position - which he enjoyed tremendously - until pressure grew for him to run against Ken Livingstone, first for the Labour nomination for London mayor and then for the post proper.

Dobson had initially hoped to remain health secretary while running for mayor but soon found doing both jobs too much, standing down from the Department of Health in 1999.

He only just scrapped the Labour nomination thanks to the use of an electoral college despite Livingstone being the clear favourite of party members.

In the mayoral election Dobson was humiliated, and only narrowly avoided coming fourth. He has been a loyal backbencher since leaving the government.