Ruth Kelly is the Labour MP for Bolton West and was named as the Secretary of State for Transport in Gordon Brown’s first cabinet.

Until then she was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and before that was Secretary of State for Education and Skills.
 
Prior to that, Ruth had been Minister for the Cabinet Office and, at the Treasury, Economic Secretary then Financial Secretary.

She was educated at Queen's College, Oxford, and the London School of Economics, where she gained an MSc in Economics. She worked on The Guardian as an economics writer before joining the Bank of England.

Ruth was elected as MP for Bolton in 1997 and is married with three daughters and a son.