London's 1000 Most Influential People
London’s 1000 Most Influential People - 2010
Evening Standard
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Prime Minister
 It is no longer “Yes, Dave” but “Yes, Prime Minister” among the Conservative leader's devotedstaff. Works diligently and without tantrums and has restored calm and good manners toDowning Street. Wife Samantha adds glamour. And the public like it — Cameron's approvalratings have risen since the election. He may be in coalition, but he is the unrivalled boss — andconfident enough to handle “Brokeback” gags.
Nick Clegg
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Deputy Prime Minister
 Two dazzling displays of leadership made Clegg the first Liberal in 80 years to taste real power.First was his electrifying live TV election debate that shifted the polls. Then came the coalitionnegotiations and the task of herding his troops behind a deal. Clegg's reward is the right to seeand influence everything that matters in Whitehall. Yet his party is riven with tensions, posing thequestion: how long can it last?
Ed Miliband
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Leader of the Opposition
 With nerve and ruthlessness, he saw off his older brother David to seize the Labour crown andbegin mapping a new political direction for a “new generation”. But the narrow victory left Labourdivided and his shadow cabinet contains several old rivals and critics. The son of Marxist theoristRalph Miliband denies he is Red Ed, but his union backers seem happy.
George Osborne
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Chancellor
 His stature grows by the day and with an emergency Budget and a comprehensive spendingreview already under his belt, the “Boy George” jibe has long been forgotten. No one is closer toDavid Cameron and they talk endlessly. Officials praise his working habits — and he mixes withbackbenchers in the Commons canteen. However, Labour still thinks he is a “weak” link in theTory frontline.
Sir Gus O'Donnell
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Cabinet Secretary
 Persuaded to delay his retirement, the well-liked mandarin stayed on to brief Cameron on how topress the nuclear button. GOD, as he is known, shaped the coalition agreement, advising theparties to make it comprehensive. Unstuffy and never vain, he works in an open plan office.Described as the most influential Roman Catholic in Britain.
 Vince Cable
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Business Secretary
  After Nick Clegg, the best-known and respected Lib-Dem. But he loathes being in coalition withthe Tories — and other ministers tread carefully around the beekeeper and ballroom dancer.
William Hague
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Foreign Secretary
 Razor-sharp and witty, Cameron hailed him “deputy leader in all but name”, reflecting hisimportance to Tory unity. Ex-McKinsey, Hague is a born executive. Alas, he proved a dreadfulspin doctor when gay smears were made.
 Andy Coulson
Director of Communications, No
 10 
 Despite the phone-hacking furore, the ex-News of the World editor is consulted on every bigdecision at No
10. A rival to Steve Hilt
on for Dave's ear, he honed policies that won old bossRupert Murdoch's support. Rumour suggests he has had offers from top City PR firms.
Steve Hilton
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Culture Secretary
 Is he the next Tory premier? Lots of MPs think so, which is why the dashing blade grabsattention in Whitehall. He proved an enthusiastic cutter in the spending round, axing his own HQ.Shocked the BBC by forcing it to take a 16 per cent cut to its overall budget.
Theresa May
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Home Secretary
 The late Alan Clark, on meeting her, drooled at having discovered “the next Margaret”. May'sstanding among Tories has been variable but she packs more punch than any other woman inpolitics. Famed for leopard-print heels.
Danny Alexander
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Treasury Chief Secretary
 Badly underrated before his surprise promotion, Clegg's former chief of staff sliced through thebudgets of Whitehall departments in the spending review. One to watch.
Michael Gove
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Education Secretary
  Articulate and brainy, the ex-Times journalist and Moral Maze panellist has found Governmentharder than his time in Opposition. Came under fire for over-promising on academy schools.Once spurned by Tory HQ for being “insufficiently Conservative”, he is close to the Cameronproject.
Ed Llewellyn
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Prime Minister's chief of staff 
 Guards Cameron's private office with good manners and steel. Like Dave he is ex-Eton, Oxfordand Conservative Research Department and they have been friends for years. Lets his hair downon the dancefloor.
Jonathan Evans
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MI5, director-general
 The head of the Security Service is, handily, also its foremost expert on counter-terrorism andthe Russians. Proved his independence by refusing to to be a cheerleader for Labour's 42-daydetention plan.
Robert Chote
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Office for Budget Responsibility, chair
 Statistics nerd and fearless critic of Labour and Tory budgets at the Institute for Fiscal Studieswho is the first permanent official economic forecaster. A former Financial Times journalist whowas unafraid to upset Gordon Brown. Could make life tough for Osborne.
Liam Fox
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Defence Secretary
 No one else has dared challenge the Chancellor quite as openly as the former doctor whoregularly takes the pulse of the simmering Tory Right wing. Widely considered unsackable. Trickybrief in Afghanistan.
Iain Duncan Smith
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Work and Pensions Secretary
 More respected now than when he was party leader, IDS is the party's conscience on socialissues and hugely sways party activists. But his reform plans are costly — and there is always thefear he will suddenly quit.
Oliver Letwin
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Cabinet Office Minister
  Along with Oliver Letwin, one of the quietly huge powers in Whitehall. Keen cost-cutter. Hiscareer(ex-Treasury minister, shadow chancellor, Tory chairman) was reborn as Cameron's progresschaser.
Chris Huhne
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Energy and Climate Change Secretary
 Unafraid to use power, the Westminster and Sorbonne-educated Left-winger could be Lib-Demleader if Clegg falls under a bus. Born Christopher Paul-Huhne, he de-poshed at Oxford.
Ed Balls
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Shadow home secretary
  A punchy leadership campaign enhanced his reputation as Labour's ace prizefighter. Denied theshadow chancellorship, he still hopes to get there, which could be a problem for his party leader.Loves soccer, pizza, Spandau Ballet and shadow cabinet colleague Yvette Cooper — his wife.
Kenneth Clarke
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Justice Secretary
 Wonderfully unmodernised, the cigar-puffing, bird-watching,jazz- and Europe-loving ex-Chancellor retains all the period features of a bygone age. No political beast has a bigger roar.
 Alan Johnson
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Shadow chancellor
 The big surprise in Ed's reshuffle, a battle-scarred Blairite in charge of tax and spending. The ex-postie has nothing to lose and is showing an independent streak, such as opposing his boss'sgraduate tax idea. The City wasn't impressed when he said his first task in the Treasury role wasto read an economics primer for beginners.
Simon Hughes
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Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats
 No ministerial car for him but fiery Hughes made himself shop steward of the Lib-Dem MPs whofear being swallowed up by the coalition. Nobody dares decline his call.
Jeremy Heywood
Permanent Secretary, No
 10 
 Every Premier's favourite civil servant, they had to create a post for a high-flyer who had run outof titles. He's been wowing ministers for 20 years, apart from a brief spell in banking, and keepsNo
10 oiled.
Head of policy, No
 10 
 No policy geek — he has been known to DJ in Clapham's trendier bars. He reshaped theConservative Research Department to Dave's public services agenda and now drives new policyacross Whitehall.
Steve Webb
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Minister for Pensions
 Brainy Lib-Dem Leftie who expected to oppose, tooth-and-nail, the coalition — but stunned MPsby how well he has hit it off with fellow Christian and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.
 Yvette Cooper
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Shadow foreign secretary
 Don't call her Mrs Balls. Ultra-clever, fiery and articulate with a CV that ranges from working forBill Clinton to Work and Pensions Secetary. She didn't stand for leader this year — but she mightnext time
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