FACTBOX - Key facts about Alistair Darling

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor Alistair Darling was forced to admit this week a government blunder has put half the country at risk of identity theft after details of 25 million people were lost in the post.

Darling, who took over as head of the Treasury in June, has also been under fire for his handling of the Northern Rock crisis, the first bank run in more than a century.

Here are some key facts about him:

* Born in November 1953, he attended the private 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.

* 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