MP Angela Smith's loyalty to new Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been rewarded - with a post by his side.

The Labour MP for Basildon and East Thurrock has been named Mr Brown's Parliamentary Private Secretary.

The role will involve working closely with the Prime Minister in Downing Street, attending Cabinet meetings and acting as the link between him and MPs.

Delighted Mrs Smith, who was previously a local government minister, told the Echo: "I have enjoyed my years as a minister.

"I have been fortunate in my time to have served in Northern Ireland, which was both interesting and rewarding.

"Also, in the past year, I have been proud to have worked with the fire service on major safety issues and to have worked on the vital issue of climate change.

"I am now delighted to have this opportunity of working so closely to the heart of Government."

Mrs Smith is only the second woman in history to to be Prime Minister's PPS.

She was told of the promotion on Tuesday, but was sworn to secrecy about it until the formal announcements.

It was one of Mr Brown's first appointments as PM.

The former Chancellor highlighted the importance of Basildon in his leadership acceptance speech this week - and visited Pitsea earlier this month.

Mrs Smith believes the move shows Mr Brown has recognised the crucial importance of the newly created South Basildon and East Thurrock seat she will contest at the next General Election.

She added: "I am extremely honoured to work so closely alongside Gordon and did not hesitate to accept the offer.

"Although it is not a ministerial position, it is at the centre of Government and means I will be at all meetings of the cabinet."

l John Hutton, former Work and Pensions Secretary who grew up in Leigh, has been made Business and Enterprise Secretary in the new administration.

From Southend to the heart of Government

ANGELA Smith has come a long way since she first stood for Labour in 1987 - as its Parliamentary candidate for Southend West.

She was unsuccessful, but in 1989 was elected to Essex County Council, representing Pitsea. She remained a county councillor until 1997, when she won Basildon and East Thurrock for Labour in the vanguard of Tony Blair's landslide victory.

The election win brought a record number of female MPs into the House and saw Mrs Smith dubbed one of the "Blair Babes".

Her first Government job was as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Home Office minister Paul Gothard. She then progressed to a job in the Labour Whips' Office.

Her first ministerial role came in October 2002, when she was made a junior minister for Northern Ireland.

After former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's office was disbanded last May, she was appointed as a junior fire minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government, which replaced it.

She held that post until Mr Brown's Government shake-up yesterday.