His sources may be impeccable but his socks are on the loud side

The Author

Ever since he won the title of Student Journalist of the Year in The Guardian's Media Awards while at Cambridge, Andrew Rawnsley has been marked out as one of life's high achievers in print.

Ever since he won the title of Student Journalist of the Year in The Guardian's Media Awards while at Cambridge, Andrew Rawnsley has been marked out as one of life's high achievers in print.

Educated at Rugby School and then Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, he edited Stop Press newspaper while studying for a first class degree and chairing his college's junior common room.

On leaving Cambridge, Mr Rawnsley won one of the two annual places on Independent Television News's prestigious trainee journalist scheme before moving on to become The Guardian's Commons sketch writer.

His talent was spotted by Channel 4, who hired him to appear alongside the late Vincent Hanna to present A Week in Politics, its flagship programme.

In 1995, Mr Rawnsley moved to The Observer to take up his present job as its chief political commentator following the departure of some of the newspaper's long-serving staff, including Simon Hoggart, Paul Routledge and Alan Watkins. He also currently presents BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour.

Married with three daughters, Andrew Rawnsley has emerged at the age of 38 as one of the leading political journalists of his generation, a fact that his new book, Servants of the People, has confirmed.

However, while his friends praise his laid-back style and point to his close contacts with senior Labour politicians, his critics stress that the last time he was a print reporter rather than a commentator was during his student days.

With a plummy accent and a penchant for loud socks that bears witness to his public school background, Mr Rawnsley is also seen as a "loner" by some lobby correspondents and politicians.

Nevertheless, his allies were claiming yesterday that his links with political aides, MPs and Cabinet ministers were so impeccable that his account of the Blair/Brown years must be accurate.

It was Mr Rawnsley who first revealed that Downing Street believed that Gordon Brown was "psychologically flawed", a comment that deepened even further the Chancellor's enmity with Tony Blair's entourage.

Last night, some mischievous observers were describing the new revelations about Mr Brown's alleged lying as "Mandelson's revenge", referring to the fact that Mr Rawnsley is extremely close to the Northern Ireland Secretary.

There is, however, no proof whatsoever that Mr Mandelson has been the main source for the new book.