Karen

It's hard, at this stage, to track down a throbbing cultural pulse in the lifeblood of chartered accountant, chartered tax adviser and now career politician Karen Bradley, our new Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

Karen, 46, was born, according to Wikipedia, in Newcastle-under-Lyme - which, contrary to her maiden speech as an MP ("I represent the seat where I was born") is actually outside her constituency of Staffordshire Moorlands. She was brought up in Chettleton, and then Buxton, when her parents became landlords of the Queen's Head Hotel.  It has live bands most Saturday nights, including, recently, The Vipers, Bad Manners, Purple Cloud of Funk and the Havana Saints. It's not clear if Karen caught similar acts when she was studying at Buxton Comprehensive. A more recent addition is a 30,000 track video jukebox. Are mum and dad still in residence ? The pub's Facebook page describes the landlord as "not bad for a fat lad".

Karen acquired a B.Sc in mathematics from Imperial College, thence to accountancy/tax advice with both Deloitte and KPMG.  In 2002, she was seconded to work as a technical adviser to the Shadow Treasury Team led by Michael Howard, and caught the Tory bug. She won Staffordshire Moorlands in 2010, previously held by Labour, with a 5.3% swing. The constituency is unusual in that is boasts no railway stations and no dual carriageways.

Husband Neil, once described as a transport consultant, is now Karen's office manager. In February this year Karen accepted hospitality from the FA worth an estimated £700 - I'm guessing this was for the Capital One Cup between Liverpool and Man City at Wembley; and in April, she declared £211 for two tickets to Manchester City v Stoke City.

Karen says she enjoys walking and trying out new recipes.