The minister who boasted 'I can deliver' steps into the line of fire

Nick Raynsford, a relatively obscure Government minister, is likely to become a national figure within weeks because of the fire strike. It will be the third time the bespectacled politician has stepped into the spotlight in his otherwise unremarkable career.

The first was when he won a by-election victory against the Conservatives at the height of Thatcherism, and the second was when he launched a bold attempt to become Labour's candidate as Mayor of London three years ago.

Warning the capital's voters it was "time to get serious", he portrayed himself as "a senior politician you can trust to deliver". Within 48 hours his master plan had crumbled as Frank Dobson started his ill-fated attempt at the job with the backing of the Labour machine.

Mr Raynsford swallowed his pride and became his rival's campaign manager, then vanished back to being a middle-ranker. Now he must be experiencing that familiar sinking feeling as the minister for Local Government, with responsibility for the fire services.

So far, by common consent, he has come out the worse in the Government's skirmishes with the Fire Brigades Union's Andy Gilchrist, who has allied modern media skills to his industrial militancy.

Mr Raynsford has displayed little of the force and panache required to dent public support for a popular cause; he has also been thrown on the defensive by challenges about why soldiers will not be allowed to cross picket lines to drive modern fire engines.

His critics claim the decision to review firefighters' pay came too late to stop the momentum towards a national strike. But, in the back rooms, Mr Raynsford has shown considerable agility in negotiating the difficulties of Labour's internal politics.

When the left dominated the party in London, and despite a Cambridge background and unfashionably moderate views, he won the Labour candidacy for the Fulham by-election in 1986. He clinched the high-profile seat in what Neil Kinnock claimed was a fight back against Margaret Thatcher.

He lost Fulham a year later but returned to the Commons in 1992 as MP for Greenwich. In 1997, Mr Raynsford was appointed Minister for London, and was shunted into the office of the Deputy Prime Minister in this year's reorganisation of Whitehall.During his mayoral campaign, he boasted he has a "tried and tested track record for delivering". Time will tell.