She was previously a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton West from 1997 until she stood down in 2010.

In the 1997 general election, Kelly gained the seat of Bolton West from the Conservatives while heavily pregnant, and gave birth to her first son eleven days later.

She rejected calls for government compensation to Equitable policyholders, on the grounds that the losses arose from actions of the company rather than from any defect of regulation, and that it was still trading.

[20] In the reshuffle following the resignation of David Blunkett on 15 December 2004, Kelly entered the Cabinet (also becoming a member of the Privy Council) with the position of Secretary of State for Education and Skills.

Her proposals in the 2005 white paper to reduce the number and influence of parent governors in trust schools[23] were seen as a partial reversal of this earlier stance.

Kelly attracted considerable criticism by rejecting the proposals of the Tomlinson report on education reform for the 14–19 age group, which suggested replacing A-level exams with a four-tier diploma.

[24] After the 2005 election, it was rumoured that she was to be demoted back into her old post at the Treasury and although she kept her position at the DfES, she was said to have been "less than thrilled" by the appointment of Tony Blair's adviser Andrew Adonis as a Minister within her department.

[25] On 9 January 2006, it came to light that Kelly's department had granted permission for a man who had been cautioned by police for viewing child pornography images and who was on a sex offenders register to be employed at a school, on the basis that he had not been convicted of an offence.

[26] On 13 January, Kim Howells, a Minister of State at the DfES, admitted that it was he who had actually made the decision, in accordance with advice given to him by civil servants that the "person did not represent an ongoing threat to children but that he should be given a grave warning".

A letter from the Department for Education that suggested the Secretary of State had considered his case and found that although his past actions had been unwise and unacceptable, he had undertaken teaching work to good effect since.

A large number of Labour backbenchers, as well as numerous party luminaries like Neil Kinnock and former Education Secretary Estelle Morris, made known their opposition to the proposals and published an alternative white paper.

When the Education and Inspections Bill 2006 was finally published on 28 February 2006, it contained much of what had been trailed, although most notable by its absence was any mention of "trust school".

The school achieved the best exam results in the borough of Tower Hamlets[35] and among the best in the UK, with 96% of children reaching the expected standard for English, and 100% for Maths and Science.

"[37] Ian Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North, called the decision "a slap in the face for the teachers and pupils in the school the child has been taken out of".

[38] However, Conservative Party leader David Cameron, whose own disabled son Ivan attended a state special needs school,[39] defended her decision, saying "People should recognise that politicians like everyone else are parents first and will act in the best interests of their children".

[40] Kelly made a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission about the Mirror's reporting of the story, but the complaint was rejected, with the PCC ruling that the story was "a matter of considerable public interest", given that she is "a Cabinet minister – who had previously been Secretary of State for Education and Skills", and "even if government policy included an acceptance of private schooling for those with special needs, the fact that the complainant did not feel that the current state system could meet her child's requirements raised questions about the nature of publicly-funded schooling and its ability to cater for children with special needs – including those whose families would not be able to pay for private schooling.

The first was in April 2005; protester Simon Wilmot-Coverdale was charged, and in February 2006 Kelly gave evidence at Salford Magistrates Court.

Kelly opposed lowering the age of consent for homosexuality, as well as voting against outlawing discrimination against gay couples adopting children.

[45] LGBT rights activist Peter Tatchell attacked Kelly for her views on homosexuality, claiming: "Tony Blair would never appoint someone to a race equality post who had a lukewarm record of opposing racism".

[49] Lorely Burt, the Liberal Democrat Equalities spokesperson, who opposed allowing churches to preach against homosexuality in schools, called for Kelly to be removed from the Cabinet.

[50] It was reported in January 2007 that Kelly supported an exemption for Catholic adoption agencies from new laws that would allow them to refuse service to gay couples.

[53] In December 2006, she called a public inquiry into the 20 Fenchurch Street tower in London's financial district,[54] on the basis that a tall building would be "unsuitable for this site".

In May 2007, she blocked a 42-storey, 120-m tower in the New England Quarter development in Brighton, designed by Allies and Morrison and being planned by the Beetham Organization.

[citation needed] Within a few days of entering her job, she faced tough work as she was responsible for securing the public's safety through transport after some attempted terrorist attacks.

"If people starve because of biofuels, Ruth Kelly and her peers will have killed them," wrote environmentalist George Monbiot in The Guardian.

"[58] Kelly announced a major increase of railway capacity by providing extra trains across the country by 2010 which drew criticism for her London bias as most of the funding would be spent there.

[66] Damian McBride, a former senior Labour Party strategist, was shifted from being Gordon Brown's political spokesman to Number 10, after criticism of the way he handled Kelly's resignation.

[67] On 18 May 2009, Kelly became involved in the MPs' expenses scandal when the Daily Telegraph revealed she had claimed a total of £31,000 between 2004 and 2008 for rebuilding, refurbishing, and purchasing appliances for her second home.