The Ex-Tory: Shaun Woodward

Shaun Woodward, who has been appointed Northern Ireland Secretary, is a defector from the Conservatives and is probably one of the wealthiest MPs on the Labour benches.

Mr Woodward, 50, a former senior Tory strategist who crossed the floor of the Commons to Labour in 1999, won a huge promotion from his previous job as Culture minister.

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The former television producer, who was once described as the only Labour MP with a butler, has decided not to draw his cabinet salary.

Mr Woodward, the former Conservative press chief, who ran the party's successful 1992 general election campaign, held the safe seat of Witney in Oxfordshire, which is now represented by the Tory leader, David Cameron.

He is the son of a porter and a barmaid, and took a double first in English literature at Jesus College, Cambridge, before becoming a producer on programmes includingPanorama and That's Life.

A close friend of Peter Mandelson, Mr Woodward, who is married to Camilla Sainsbury, of the supermarket dynasty, entered Parliament as a Conservative "golden boy" in 1997.

He defected when he was sacked as the Conservatives' frontbench spokesman for London after defying the whips to support the repeal of Section 28 which prevented the promotion of homosexual lifestyles in schools. He was parachuted into the safe Labour seat of St Helens South.

Mr Woodward was born on 25 October 1958 in Bristol and attended Bristol Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge. After his re-election in 2005 he was appointed under-secretary at Northern Ireland, and later became under-secretary at Culture, Media and Sport with responsibilities for TV's switch to digital.

Yesterday he said he was honoured by his appointment and played down his Tory past.