ELLESMERE Port-raised MP Beverly Hughes has made a surprise return to the Cabinet.

Ms Hughes had resigned from her post as Immigration Minister a year ago in the wake of a suspected passport and visa scam.

She strongly denies that she or her department acted improperly, but told the House of Commons she 'may have given a misleading impression' in a TV interview about immigration in Britain.

Ms Hughes, the MP for Stretford and Urmston in Greater Manchester, then announced in the Commons that she was resigning with immediate effect.

But on Monday, when Tony Blair re-shuffled his Cabinet after winning his historic third General Election, he announced Ms Hughes' return to frontline politics. She has become his Minister for Children.

The eldest of eight children, Ms Hughes was born in South America to Doris and the late Norman Hughes.

She attended Pooltown Junior School and Ellesmere Port Girls Grammar School, now called Whitby High.