Before they were famous: the coalition cabinet

Many members of the freshly-minted cabinet have either been the subject of articles in Prospect or have written them: acquaint yourself with your new government, below...

Prime minister David Cameron The life and times of the new PM were the subject of a major 6,000-word profile by Wendell Steavenson in the May issue of Prospect

Deputy PM Nick Clegg Having made the arduous journey from Chalfont-St-Giles to Putney (via Sheffield), Clegg interned on the Nation under Christopher Hitchens before becoming an MEP. In 2002 he debated his views on the euro with the FT's Gideon Rachman, and David Goodhart interviewed him in 2005.

Chancellor George Osborne His father's company provides curtains to the White House and at 38, he’s the youngest chancellor since Randolph Churchill in 1886. Jonathan Ford wrote a profile of him after his speech to the Tory party conference in 2008

Business Secretary Vince Cable Cable, then working at Chatham House, wrote about the environment and overpopulation in Prospect’s 3rd issue, back in December 1995.

Educationsecretary Michael Gove Gove wrote on BBC bias in its Israel-Palestine coverage in 2006: "A soft left worldview influences too much of what the corporation produces. We have a right to expect more honesty from the broadcasting service we are being asked to pay for."

Energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne Huhne reviewed a pair of finance books back in 1999, when he was working for credit rating agency Fitch—the “acute problems facing the world economy” at the time read rather tamely in the context of today’s.

Also in the government —but not in the cabinet—Oliver Letwin, chairman of the Conservatives’ policy review, who reviewed John Gray’s book on modus vivendi liberalism and admired David Blunkett’s (“one of the most interesting figures on the British political scene”) autobiography in 2001. Leading conservative thinker David Willetts has written on Tory themes since 1996.

If the power goes to their heads, perhaps they could return to Prospectto remind themselves of the atavistic powers that really determine who our leaders are