CHRIS HUHNE, 51 
As soon as he entered Parliament, Chris Huhne was pitched onto the Liberal Democrat front bench as economic spokesman.
But this new MP is no political novice - he won his parliamentary spurs in Brussels and Strasbourg as an MEP from 1999 to 2005.
And he has long been one of the party's key thinkers - in 2002 he took charge of revamping Lib Dem policies on public services.
Before politics, the MP worked as a City economist and as an economic journalist on The Guardian, The Independent and The Economist.
Mr Huhne, who has been an MP for just eight months, has called for a radical rise in eco-taxes to help the reduction of greenhouse gases.
He told party activists: "The sugar on the pill of higher eco-taxes must be lower personal taxes directed at the bottom end and fulfilling our fairness agenda."