Gordon Brown

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2010

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician. He served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and was the leader of the British Labour Party. He was the Labour MP Representative for the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath UK Constituency.


Gordon Brown

Official portrait of Brown, c. 2008
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office
27 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
MonarchElizabeth II
First SecretaryThe Lord Mandelson (2009–10)
Preceded byTony Blair
Succeeded byDavid Cameron
Leader of the Labour Party
In office
24 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
DeputyHarriet Harman
General SecretaryPeter Watt
Ray Collins
ChairmanHarriet Harman
Preceded byTony Blair
Succeeded byEd Miliband
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
2 May 1997 – 28 June 2007
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byKenneth Clarke
Succeeded byAlistair Darling
Shadow Cabinet positions
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
24 July 1992 – 2 May 1997
Leader
ShadowingNorman Lamont
Kenneth Clarke
Preceded byJohn Smith
Succeeded byKenneth Clarke
Shadow Secretary of State
for Trade and Industry
In office
2 November 1989 – 24 July 1992
LeaderNeil Kinnock
ShadowingNicholas Ridley
Peter Lilley
Michael Heseltine
Preceded byBryan Gould
Succeeded byRobin Cook
Shadow President of the Board of Trade
In office
2 November 1989 – 24 July 1992
LeaderNeil Kinnock
ShadowingNicholas Ridley
Peter Lilley
Michael Heseltine
Preceded byBryan Gould
Succeeded byRobin Cook
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office
13 July 1987 – 2 November 1989
LeaderNeil Kinnock
ShadowingJohn Major
Norman Lamont
Preceded byBryan Gould
Succeeded byMargaret Beckett
Member of Parliament
for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (2005–2015)
Dunfermline East (1983–2005)
In office
9 June 1983 – 30 March 2015
Preceded byDick Douglas (Dunfermline)
Succeeded byRoger Mullin
Personal details
Born
James Gordon Brown

(1951-02-20) 20 February 1951 (age 73)
Giffnock, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)
(m. 2000)
Children3
Parents
  • John Ebenezer Brown
  • Jessie Elizabeth Souter
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh (BA 1971, MA 1972, PhD 1982)

He was born at Orchard Maternity Nursing Home in Giffnock, Scotland and is married to Sarah Macaulay. Their daughter Jennifer Jane died as a baby. They have two sons, John Macaulay and James Fraser. Brown is blind in his left eye after a sports injury but he has a replacement eye made of glass.

Brown took over as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Tony Blair resigned on 27 June 2007. Before this, he had been Chancellor of the Exchequer since May 1997.

Brown has a PhD in history from the University of Edinburgh. He spent his early career working as a television journalist.[1][2] He has been a Member of Parliament since 1983. At the beginning for Dunfermline East and since 2005 for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.[3][4] As Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, he was also First Lord of the Treasury and the Minister for the Civil Service.

Brown's time as Chancellor was marked by major reform of Britain's financial and fiscal policy architecture. For example, was the interest rate setting power transferred to the Bank of England. This was done by a wide extension of the powers of the Treasury to cover much domestic policy and by giving the responsibility for banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority.[5] Controversial moves included the abolition of Advance Corporation Tax (ACT) relief in his first budget,[6][7] and the removal in his final budget of the 10 per cent "starting rate" of personal income tax which he had introduced in 1999.[8]

After an initial rise in opinion polls,[9] Brown's time as Prime Minister saw his approval ratings fall. The Labour Party suffered its worst local election results in 40 years.[10][11] Despite public and parliamentary pressure on his leadership, he remained leader of the Labour Party. He announced on 6 April 2010 that there would be a general election on 6 May 2010, in which Labour came second, with 258 seats. Brown resigned, and Conservative leader David Cameron became Prime Minister.

On 14 July 2012, United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-moon named Brown UN Special Envoy for Education.

In 2017, he made a statement about Scotland having a "full blown mental health emergency" citing the hiring of mental health staff by a charity.[12][13][14]

References

change
  1. Kearney, Martha (14 March 2005). "Brown seeks out 'British values'". BBC News. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  2. "The Gordon Brown story". BBC News. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  3. "Brown is UK's new prime minister". BBC News. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  4. "Gordon Brown". BBC News. 19 November 2007. Archived from the original on 25 August 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  5. "Memorandum of Understanding between HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority" (PDF). HM Treasury, Bank of England, FSA. 1997. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  6. Halligan, Liam (16 October 2006). "Brown's raid on pensions costs Britain £100 billion". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 February 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  7. "Pension blame falls on Brown". The Guardian. 22 July 2002. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  8. "Q&A: 10p tax rate cut". The Guardian. 21 April 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  9. "New British PM gives party biggest poll lead in two years". The Philippine Star. 15 July 2007. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  10. "Labour suffers wipeout in its worst local election results". The Times. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  11. Labour slumps to historic defeat, BBC News, 8 June 2009
  12. "Gordon Brown says Scotland has 'mental health emergency'". STV News. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  13. Narwan, Gurpreet (11 September 2017). "Gordon Brown: 'There is a full-blown mental health emergency'". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  14. "Brown warns of 'mental health emergency'". BBC News. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 18 September 2017.