Maggie Darling, key player in Downing Street rows

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent Published: 10:00PM GMT twenty-four February 2010

Maggie Darling with her husband. Photo: Rex Features

And if her husbands anxiety to "the forces of hell" is the majority noted word of the stream saga, Mrs Darling is credited with a word that certainly comes a close second.

According to Andrew Rawnsleys The End of the Party, the book that has triggered the stream turmoil, Mrs Darling in 2008 was murderous by No 10 aides lecture reporters opposite her husband.

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"The ----ing ----s are perplexing to tack up Alistair," she is reported to have said. "The ----s. I cant hold theyre such ----s."

Friends subject the accurate denunciation employed, but not the sentiment. The import that Mrs Darling spoke to Mr Rawnsley about the diagnosis of her father goes unchallenged.

Michelle Obama, the mother of the US president, once described Mrs Darling as "a loyal Scottish firebrand" and journal reports roughly fundamentally report her as "feisty".

But far from being a ominous figure, Mrs Darling is roughly zodiacally favourite in domestic and media circles as a warm, accessible and enchanting character.

According to one domestic crony of the couple, Mrs Darling is the greatest singular change on her husbands personal politics, and was instrumental in his move from Labours belligerent left in the 1980s to the partys centre belligerent in the 1990s.

A former publisher with the Glasgow Herald, she pursued her career after her father entered the Cabinet in 1997, withdrawal broadcasting usually in 1999 as a outcome of a excess programme a the paper.

Even after that, she one after an additional to bottom herself in Scotland, and usually changed to London after Mr Darling became Chancellor in 2007. With her came Sybil, her cat. Tellingly, Mr Darlings be vexed of the animal unsuccessful definitely to forestall his mother from bringing her pet.

But Mrs Darling is not the usually clever Scottish lady with a main purpose in Mr Darlings domestic operations.

When Mr Darling invited a Guardian publisher to his Scottish island shelter for the 2008 talk that would "unleash the forces of hell", dual alternative people were present: Mrs Darling and Catherine McLeod, his special adviser.

Ms MacLeod is Mrs Darlings close crony and an additional former Herald journalist. She went to work for the Chancellor in 2007 in a move orchestrated by Mrs Darling, who felt his domestic form indispensable to be reinforced.

Ms MacLeod was regarded with guess by most of Mr Browns allies. Despite a 20-year career as a domestic publisher that saw her inaugurated chair of the parliamentary Lobby reporters organisation in 2001 most Brownites regarded her as being as well close to Tony Blair and his middle circle.

Friends contend that in between them, the dual women have swayed Mr Darling to be some-more warlike in his exchange with the Prime Minister and his allies.

"There was a regard that Alistair was carrying a tough time of it since he wasnt rebuilt to fool around the same game. Its not his style, he only doesnt of course think or action that way," pronounced one friend.

"Its satisfactory to contend that Maggie was disturbed about that, and that Catherine was disturbed about that. Between them, theyve got him to face up to the being and realize he has to punch behind a bit more."