Journey from miner to major ministerial role

But Stafford-born Patrick McLoughlin now has one of the biggest and most important jobs in the Government.

The 54-year-old former miner has been appointed as transport secretary in David Cameron's first cabinet shake-up and will take his place at the top table of politics.

Formerly the Government's Chief Whip, father-of-two Mr McLoughlin will handle some of the biggest political issues facing the Coalition, including the £32 billion high-speed rail line and the franchise change for the West Coast Rail line.

Colleagues past and present today said he was a "miner done good" and the PM announced in the Commons yesterday: "I've done something that New Labour never managed, I've taken a miner, put him in the cabinet and he's running the railways."

Conservative Mr McLoughlin, who used to live in Hednesford, was elected as a councillor in Cannock Chase from 1980 and served on Staffordshire County Council from 1981 to 1987.

In 1983, he fought for the Wolverhampton South East seat in the General Election but was defeated, before becoming MP for West Derbyshire in 1986.

The former pupil of Cannock's Cardinal Griffin School and Staffordshire College of Agriculture at Rodbaston College was transport minister from 1989 and 1992 and will now be returning to the department.

He is no stranger to controversy, however, breaking ranks to continue working during the 1984 miner's strike and speaking at the Tory Party Conference where he announced he was a miner.

Long-serving Labour councillor for Cannock North Gordon Alcott was on Cannock Chase Council at the same time as Mr McLoughlin.

"He's done well," he said. "He was one of a few miners from Littleton Colliery in Cannock who worked during the miner's strike and he was one of Margaret Thatcher's protegees."

Among the issues Mr McLoughlin, who has been married to wife Lynn since 1984, will now face is the controversial HS2 train line, which cuts through parts of Staffordshire.

He will also have to wrestle with the issue of a new runway at Heathrow Airport.

Aidan Burley, Conservative MP for Cannock Chase, today said Mr McLoughlin was a "local boy made good".

"It's great for Patrick," he said. "We have a cabinet full of many old Etonians and Oxbridge graduates and to have a man with working class roots at the top table is great.

"I'm proud as a Cannock Chase MP that a former pitman from Cannock is now one of the most senior politicians and is running a big and important department.

"It's one of the most important departments in Government, even if it's not the sexiest."

Stafford Conservative MP Jeremy Lefroy had met with Mr McLoughlin's predecessor Justine Greening to push for an HS2 stop in North Staffordshire.

He said he would continue to press the issue while the controversial scheme was in the planning stages.

"I'm a great admirer of Mr McLoughlin," said Mr Lefroy. "He's shown himself to be a very good Chief Whip and extremely fair in all the dealings I've had with him.

"As secretary of state, he has got to view things in the national point of view."

Mr Lefroy said he expected issues he had raised with Ms Greening to be passed on to Mr McLoughlin.

"I'll just be making sure he's aware of it and that that Department of Transport knows our views."

The appointment of Mr McLoughlin, who becomes the eighth transport secretary in eight years, has also been welcomed by the Stop HS2 campaign group.

The group claims Mr McLoughlin is "considered to be sympathetic to countryside issues and is a keen walker".

Joe Rukin, Stop HSE Campaign co-ordinator, said: "We welcome the appointment of Mr McLoughlin, who seems at first glance far more aware of the world around him than the two previous secretaries of state and has already spent more time in the Department for Transport than them both put together.

"Given his background, we hope the new man in the Department for Transport will be far more receptive than Justine Greening, who refused to even meet with us during her 10 months in the job.

"We hope to put our case to both the new Minister and Secretary of State as soon as possible."