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David Jones brings a unique perspective to the Wales Office - he's the first secretary of state to have served in the Assembly before becoming an MP.

He took over a vacant seat in Cardiff Bay when Rod Richards stood down in 2002, staying there until the 2003 election.

A solicitor and Liverpool FC fan, Mr Jones was elected as the MP for Clwyd West in 2005, increasing his majority in the 2010 General Election.

Despite his experience in the assembly, political opponents have tended to portray Mr Jones as sceptical on devolution - something his allies say is unfair.

But it is a perception he will have to work to overcome - and the Labour Welsh government is likely to waste little time in trying to paint the new secretary of state as a block on their ambitions.

Not all Tory AMs will see eye-to-eye with him on every issue. But they at least have a Welsh secretary with a Welsh seat in parliament, something they had called for as it become clear that Mrs Gillan would be a victim of the reshuffle.

Married with two sons, Welsh-speaker Mr Jones - despite becoming the first Welsh Conservative MP to be Secretary of State since Nicholas Edwards - was actually born in London.

He remains the only Assembly member to have declared membership of the freemasons, although he wrote in 2009 he had not been an active member for many years.

Mr Jones, 60, is an avid tweeter and blogger - although he has been known to give up social media for Lent.

Appropriately, Twitter was the medium where it emerged that he could be in line for a promotion. Cheryl Gillan used the social networking site to announce she was leaving the cabinet early on Tuesday morning.

Mr Jones wastes little time in correcting journalists he thinks have got it wrong - earlier this summer he took reporters to task for suggesting MPs were on holiday.

"I'm not on holiday, and won't be having one until September," he said.

With today's promotion, the break might have to wait.