Backroom toiler with passion for policy

Dan Corry is typical of those who have risen under New Labour - the 45-year-old father of two has a passion for the inner workings of policy only matched by his love for football.

A regular at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, he used the enforced period of leisure he obtained when his boss, Stephen Byers, quit as Transport Secretary last week to fly to Japan for the World Cup.

Today he is understood to be in Sapporo for the match against Argentina. But he will be lying low, aware of the media interest in him after his notorious email exchange with Labour's Millbank HQ, trawling for political dirt on Paddington rail crash survivors.

Those who know Mr Corry well expressed surprise today that the mild-mannered backroom toiler allowed himself to become so exposed.

Mr Corry appeared more at home with the fine print of economic policy than on the political frontline, and is certainly not a male version of Jo Moore, with whom he worked for Mr Byers.

Like her, he was a special adviser, a political appointment but with a salary funded by the taxpayer, but unlike her he had little or no day-to-day contact with the media.

His nickname, reflecting his ability to distance himself - until now - from the maelstrom of controversy surrounding his boss, was Canny Danny.

Mr Corry was a civil service economist, working for two government departments under the Thatcher government in the Eighties, before joining the Left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research in the early Nineties.

Margaret Beckett made him her special adviser at the Trade Department in 1997. He stayed there under Peter Mandelson and Mr Byers before following Mr Byers to Transport after last year's general election.