1. Liam Byrne, Minister for the West Midlands

The most powerful man in the West Midlands?

Perhaps an incongruous accolade for someone who admits he has no real power, but Liam Byrne has turned his role as Minister for the West Midlands into a vehicle for galvanising the region, based largely on force of personality alone.

Of course, having a senior government job probably helps. Mr Byrne, MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, is a Minister of State in the Home Office, responsible for immigration, and became a Treasury Minister too in January, but we are concerned with the influence he has directly on the West Midlands region, and it is considerable.

When Mr Bryne was appointed Regional Minister by Gordon Brown last year, he said his only real power was to "bang heads together". Over the past year, this is precisely what he's done.

The greatest challenges facing the West Midlands economy are the need to dramatically increase the skills of the workforce, the need to create new jobs which can replace vanishing positions in the manufacturing sector, but which make use of the region's strengths, and the need to improve the transport network.

The West Midlands Minister has identified the key issues, and focused attention on them. He has also brought together bodies such as Advantage West Midlands, the Learning and Skills Council, universities and hospital trusts, forcing them to work together to find solutions.

He's ruffled a few feathers in the process. His role in Birmingham's successful bid for funding to refurbish New Street station bought him into conflict with the city council.

Some local officials have privately complained about him sticking his nose into their work, but it's this tenacity that makes Liam Byrne a powerful figure - in stark contrast to his equivalents in the other regions, who have not developed their role in the same way.

He has also encountered familiar problems, including suspicion in the shires about any "regional" initiative which critics accuse of being too focused on Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country.

Mr Byrne, aged 37, became an MP in 2004 and has most of his political career still to come.

He's got off to a flying start, placed in charge of reforming immigration - the Government's biggest political headache before the economy went sour.

Now, with Labour struggling, he may be one of the people capable of providing the intellectual leadership the party needs to revive its fortunes, whether in Government or in opposition.