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Gordon Brown

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The Right Honourable
 James Gordon Brown 
MP, MA (Hons), PhD,
Image:Gordon Brown 2005 IMF close.jpg

Speaking during an IMF/World Bank news conference in 2005.


Incumbent
Assumed office 
27 June 2007
Monarch Elizabeth II
Preceded by Tony Blair

In office
2 May 1997 – 27 June 2007
Prime Minister Tony Blair
Preceded by Kenneth Clarke
Succeeded by Alistair Darling

Member of Parliament
for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
Dunfermline East (1983-2005)
Incumbent
Assumed office 
9 June 1983
Preceded by New constituency
Majority 18,216 (43.6%)

Born 20 February 1951 (1951-02-20) (age 58)
Govan, Glasgow, Scotland
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Spouse Sarah Brown
Children John and James Fraser
Residence 10 Downing Street (official)
North Queensferry (private)[1]
Alma mater University of Edinburgh
Occupation Politician
Profession Lecturer
Journalist
Religion Church of Scotland
Signature Image:Gordon Brown signature.png

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951 in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He took office on 27 June 2007, three days after becoming leader of the Labour Party. Prior to this he served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007, becoming the United Kingdom's longest serving Chancellor since Nicholas Vansittart in the early 19th century. He has a PhD in history from the University of Edinburgh,[2][3] and, as Prime Minister, he also holds the positions of First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1983; firstly for Dunfermline East and since 2005 for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.[4][5]

Contents

Early life and career before parliament

Gordon Brown was born in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland,[6][7] although media[8][9] have occasionally given his place of birth as Giffnock, Renfrewshire, where his parents were living at the time.

His father, John Ebenezer Brown, was a strong influence on Brown and died aged 84.[10] His mother Elizabeth, known as Bunty, died in 2004 aged 86.[11] Gordon was brought up with his brothers John and Andrew Brown in a manse in Kirkcaldy—the largest town in Fife, Scotland across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh.[12] In common with many other notable Scots, he is therefore often referred to as a "son of the manse". Brown was educated first at Kirkcaldy West Primary School[13] where he was selected for an experimental fast stream education programme, which took him two years early to Kirkcaldy High School for an academic hothouse education taught in separate classes. At age 16 he wrote that he loathed and resented this "ludicrous" experiment on young lives.[14]

He was accepted by the University of Edinburgh to study history at the age of only 16. He suffered a retinal detachment after being kicked in the head during an end-of-term rugby union match at his old school. He was left blind in his left eye, despite treatment including several operations and lying in a darkened room for weeks at a time. Later at Edinburgh, while playing tennis, he noticed the same symptoms in his right eye. Brown underwent experimental surgery at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and his eye was saved.[15] Brown graduated from Edinburgh with First Class Honours MA in 1972,[16] and stayed on to complete his PhD (which he gained in 1982), titled The Labour Party and Political Change in Scotland 1918-29.[17]

In 1972, while still a student and with strong connections with the previous Dean of Admissions, Brown was elected Rector[18] of the University of Edinburgh, the convener of the University Court. Brown served as Rector until 1975, and he also edited The Red Paper on Scotland.[19] From 1976 to 1980 he was employed as a lecturer in Politics at Glasgow College of Technology - in the 1979 general election, Brown stood for the Edinburgh South constituency and lost to the Conservative candidate, Michael Ancram.[16] From 1980 he worked as a journalist at Scottish Television, later serving as current affairs editor until his election to parliament in 1983.[20]

Election to parliament and opposition

Gordon Brown was elected to Parliament on his second attempt as a Labour MP for Dunfermline East in 1983 general election and became opposition spokesman on Trade and Industry in 1985. In 1986, he published a biography of the Independent Labour Party politician James Maxton, the subject of his PhD thesis. Brown was Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1987 to 1989 and then Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, before becoming Shadow Chancellor in 1992.[16][21]

Having led the Labour Movement Yes campaign, refusing to join the cross-party Yes for Scotland campaign, during the 1979 Scottish devolution referendum, while other senior Labour politicians - including Robin Cook, Tam Dalyell and Brian Wilson - campaigned for a No vote, Brown was subsequently a key participant in the Scottish Constitutional Convention, signing the Claim of Right for Scotland in 1989.[22]

After the sudden death of Labour leader John Smith in May 1994, Brown was tipped as a potential party leader,[23] but did not contest the leadership after Tony Blair became favourite. It has long been rumoured a deal was struck between Blair and Brown at the former Granita restaurant in Islington,[24] in which Blair promised to give Brown control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in the leadership election.[25] Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Brown has been central to the fortunes of "New Labour", and they have mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts.[26]

As Shadow Chancellor, Brown worked to present himself as a fiscally competent Chancellor-in-waiting, to reassure business and the middle class that Labour could be trusted to run the economy without fuelling inflation, increasing unemployment, or overspending—legacies of the 1970s. He publicly committed Labour to following the Conservatives' spending plans for the first two years after taking power.[27][28]

Following a reorganisation of parliamentary constituencies in Scotland, Brown became MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath at the 2005 election.[29]

Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer

Image:Gordon Brown IMF.jpg
Gordon Brown speaking at the annual World Bank/IMF meeting in 2002
See also Chancellorship of Gordon Brown

Brown's ten years and two months as Chancellor of the Exchequer made him the longest-serving Chancellor in modern history.[15]

The Prime Minister's website singles out three achievements in particular from Brown's decade as Chancellor: presiding over "the longest ever period of growth", making the Bank of England independent and delivering an agreement on poverty and climate change at the G8 summit in 2005.[16]

Acts as Chancellor

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