FACTBOX: Darling takes Treasury reins

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has appointed Alistair Darling, 53, as new finance minister on Thursday, in a government shakeup designed to draw a line under a decade of Tony Blair's rule.

Darling may be in for a rockier ride than Brown as finance minister because interest rates have risen to a six-year high to combat inflation.

The warning signs are there. Personal bankruptcies have hit record levels and house repossessions are rising despite house prices rising strongly in most of the country.

Here are some key facts about Alistair Darling:

* Darling, born in November 1953, was privately educated, like Blair. He attended the Loretto School on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland's oldest boarding school before going on to study law at Aberdeen University.

* He worked as a lawyer in Edinburgh before being called to the Scottish Bar and admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1984.

* He has been a member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central since 1987 and is a former left-winger who moved to the centre ground as Blair revamped his Labour Party during its long years in opposition.

* In opposition, he was spokesman on treasury matters from July 1996 to April 1997 and then held a series of posts in successive Labour governments. Chief Secretary to the Treasury from May 1997 to July 1998, Secretary of State for Social Security between July 1998 and June 2001 and Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions from June 2001 to May 2002.

* In May 2006 he was appointed Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and before that was at the Department for Transport and Secretary of State for Scotland.

* He is married to journalist Margaret Vaughan. They have one son and one daughter.

Sources: Reuters/www.number-10.gov