Crusader's war against drugs.

Jack Straw has branded drugs the "scourge of our society".

He believes drug abuse is a major cause of rising crime. So within weeks of becoming Home Secretary he appointed a drugs tsar to crack down on it.

He once wrote: "The scourge of drugs is one of the greatest evils facing society today.

"They destroy lives, ruin families and undermine communities.

"But it's not just the drug addicts who suffer. The police believe that more than half of all crime is drug related.

"So the chances are that if you car stereo has been stolen, your house burgled or your handbag snatched, the culprit did it to buy drugs."

Despite growing calls for cannabis to be legalised, Mr Straw has always been firmly against softening the law.

Once asked if he had ever smoked dope himself, he refused to reply.

The Prime Minister's office later issued a statement which said: "Jack Straw has made the Government's position perfectly clear. We shall not decriminalise, legalise or legitimise the use of drugs."

He has also often talked about how parents should be held responsible for keeping their children in line.

The Government soon plans to give the courts powers to impose "parenting orders".

Parents would have to go to training and guidance sessions to learn how to be more responsible.

If they did not obey, they could be fined or jailed. A phone line would also be set up to advise them.

Parents could also be forced to impose curfews to stop tearaways roaming the streets or not going to school. Mr Straw himself had a tough upbringing. His family were poor and his mother struggled to bring up five children.

She was a Labour councillor and Mr Straw went to meetings of the Young Socialists from an early age.

He was bright and worked hard at school then won a scholarship to Brentwood public school in Essex.

He went on to Leeds University to study law and was president of the National Union of Students in the Sixties. He eventually became a barrister.

But politics were in his blood and he was elected as a councillor and then deputy leader of the Inner London Education Authority.

It was Labour heavyweight Barbara Castle who spotted his political talent and made him her special advisor. In 1979 he inherited her seat in Blackburn.

His path to Government was secured when he helped persuade Tony Blair to stand for leader.

His first marriage to teacher Anthea ended in 1978 after their only child Rachel was born with a heart defect and died within a week.

He went on to marry his second wife, high-flying civil servant Alice Perkins, who is the mother of Will and daughter Charlotte.

They have lived for the last 20 years in a pleasant middle-class home in Kennington, south London.

The dad-of-two is also close to his two children, agreeing to become chairman of governors at the school, despite his work commitments.

When told he did not have enough time he said: "Yes I do. It's about my children's education."