Bio

Alistair Darling, MP Former UK chancellor of the exchequer

Age: 57

Education: Loretto School, Musselburgh, Edinburgh

LL.B University of Aberdeen

President of the students union

Career:

Became a solicitor in 1978 and admitted to the Scots bar in 1984

Member of Parliament for Edinburgh seats since 1987

Chief Secretary to the Treasury 1997-98

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 1998-2002

Secretary of State for Transport 2002-2006

Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 2006-2007

Chancellor of the Exchequer 2007-2010

Book: John Maynard Keynes by Robert Skidelsky (three-volume biography)

Film: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011, directed by Tomas Alfredson)

Music: The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd (1973). "I listened to this on my iPod over the North Pole on the way to Beijing. It was what we used to dream about in the 1970s."

Food: Stornoway Black Pudding "that will fix your readers. It is basically blood and oatmeal and the Stornoway ones are particularly good because they are nice and mealy".