Alistair Maclean Darling (born 28 November 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010. Darling was one of only three people to have served in the Cabinet continuously from Labour's victory in 1997 until its defeat in 2010 (the others being Gordon Brown and Jack Straw).

Darling was initially appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1997, moving to become Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 1998. Spending four years at the department, he spent another four years as Secretary of State for Transport, also becoming Secretary of State for Scotland in 2003. Prime Minister Tony Blair moved Darling for a final time, to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in 2006, before Gordon Brown promoted Darling to Chancellor in 2007.

Alistair Darling was born in London the son of a civil engineer, Thomas, and his wife, Anna. He is the great-nephew of Sir William Darling, who was Conservative MP for Edinburgh South (1945–1957). He was educated in Kirkcaldy, and the private Loretto School,Musselburgh, East Lothian, then attended the University of Aberdeen where he was awarded a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B). He became the President of Aberdeen University Students' Representative Council.

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007, becoming the longest-serving holder of that office in modern history. Brown has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1983, for Dunfermline East until 2005, and currently for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

Brown became Prime Minister on 27 June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming Leader of the governing Labour Party. His tenure ended on 11 May 2010, when he resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown was one of only three people to serve in the Cabinet continuously from Labour's victory in 1997 until its defeat in 2010, the others being Jack Straw and Alistair Darling.

Brown has a PhD in history from the University of Edinburgh and spent his early career working as a lecturer at a further education college and a television journalist. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1983; first for Dunfermline East and since 2005 for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. As Prime Minister, he also held the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service.

Stewart Hosie (born 3 January 1963) is the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Dundee East. He is Deputy Leader and Chief Whip of the SNP Westminster Group and House of Commons party spokesperson on the Treasury and Economic matters. He sits on the Commons Treasury Select Committee.

Born in Dundee, he was educated at Brackens Primary School, Invertay Primary School Monifieth, Carnoustie High School and Bell Street Tech, (now Abertay University) where he gained an HD in Computer Studies. Stewart worked in IT/IS for 20 years and ran his own business. He is married to Shona Robison, the SNP MSP for Dundee East and Scottish Minister for Public Health. They have a daughter, Morag Louise, and live in the constituency. Prior to his election he was the SNP's first Youth Convener and spent four years as the Party's National Secretary before being elected as the Organisation Convener in 2003.

First standing for the UK Parliament at the 1992 Westminster Election in Kirkcaldy, Hosie went on to stand for both the Westminster and Scottish parliaments. He contested Kirkcaldy at the 1997 Westminster election, coming second with 22.9%, and at the 1999 Scottish parliamentary elections, when he increased the SNP vote by 9.4% to 32.4%, reducing Marilyn Livingstone's majority to 4,475 in a previously safe Labour seat. At the 2001 Westminster election, Stewart contested Dundee East, increasing the SNP vote by 4.9% to 31.4% and reducing tha Labour majority from 9,961 to less than 4,475. He was eventually elected on 5 May 2005, gaining the seat from Labour with only a 383 majority (1.0%). In the 2010 general election he held the seat with an increased majority of 1,821 (4.5%).

Nigel Paul Farage ( /ˈfærɑːʒ/, FARR-ahzh; born 3 April 1964, Farnborough, Kent), is a British politician and is the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), a position he also held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group.

Farage is a founding member of the UKIP, having left the Conservative Party in 1992 after they signed the Maastricht Treaty. Having unsuccessfully campaigned in European and Westminster parliamentary elections for UKIP since 1994, he gained a seat as an MEP for South East England in the 1999 European Parliament Election — the first year the regional list system was used — and was re-elected in 2004 and 2009. Farage describes himself as a libertarian and rejects the notion that he is a conservative.

In September 2006, Farage became the UKIP Leader and led the party through the 2009 European Parliament Election in which it received the second highest share of the popular vote, defeating Labour and the Liberal Democrats with over two million votes. However he stepped down in November 2009 to concentrate on contesting the Speaker John Bercow's seat of Buckingham in the 2010 general election.

Rachel Jane Reeves (born 13 February 1979) is a British economist and a Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Leeds West since 2010. She served as Shadow Pensions Minister from October 2010 until October 2011, when she was appointed as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury by Ed Miliband.

Reeves was born in Lewisham to Graham and Sally Reeves. She was educated at Cator Park School for Girls in Bromley, South East London. She cites the influence of her father on herself and her sister supporting the Labour Party, recalling how when she was eight years old he pointed out Neil Kinnock on the television and "told us that was who we voted for". Reeves says both she and her sister had "both known we were Labour since then". She joined the Labour Party at age 16. She was the Under-14 UK girls chess champion and always had an aptitude for maths.

She read politics, philosophy and economics at New College, Oxford, followed by an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.