Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown, Ph.D (born 20 February 1951) is Chancellor of the
Exchequer of the United Kingdom and a Scottish Labour Party politician.
He was MP for Dunfermline East from 1983 - 2005, then Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2005 following a reorganisation of parliamentary constituencies in Scotland.
Brown has headed HM Treasury since May 1997, making him the longest continuously serving Chancellor since Nicholas Vansittart (1812-1823).
He is regarded as the second most powerful member of the present British government and is widely expected to assume the leadership of the Labour Party, and therefore to become Prime Minister, before the end of the present Parliament.
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Rt. Hon. Dr. Gordon Brown |
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Chancellor of the Exchequer |
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Periods in office: |
May 2, 1997–present |
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Deputy Prime Minister: |
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Predecessor(s): |
Kenneth Clarke |
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Successor(s): |
Incumbent |
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Date of birth: |
February 20, 1951 |
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Place of birth: |
Glasgow, Scotland |
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Political party: |
Labour Party |
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Constituency: |
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath |
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Spouse: |
Sarah Macaulay |
Early and private life
Early Parliamentary career
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Prospects of succeeding Blair
Works
See also
His father, John, was a Church of Scotland minister. While at Kirkcaldy High School he suffered a detached retina in a rugby accident, leaving him blind in his left eye. Brown read History at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with First Class Honours. Brown would stay at Edinburgh to complete his Doctorate, titled 'The Labour Party and Political Change in Scotland 1918-29'. According to biographer Tom Bower, Brown originally intended his thesis to cover the development of Labour from the seventeenth century onwards, but evolved to more modestly describe "Labour's struggle to establish itself as the alternative to the Conservatives [in the early part of the 20th century]".
Before entering Parliament and while still a student, Brown had been elected Rector of the University of Edinburgh and Chairman of the University Court, and edited "The Red Paper on Scotland". Brown lectured at that university and then at Glasgow College of Technology before working as a journalist at Scottish Television. In the 1979 general election, Brown fought the Edinburgh South constituency, but lost to the Conservative candidate, Michael Ancram. In 1986, he published a biography of the Independent Labour Party politician James Maxton, the subject of his PhD thesis.
Brown married Sarah Macaulay at his home in North Queensferry, Fife, on 3 August 2000 after a four-year courtship. Mrs. Brown is a public relations executive and was, until 2001, Chief Executive of Hobsbawm Macaulay, the consultancy firm she owned with Julia Hobsbawm. On 28 December 2001, a daughter, Jennifer Jane, was born prematurely; she died on 8 January 2002. Their second child, a son, John, was born on 17 October 2003. In January 2006 it was announced that they were expecting a third child in July.
Brown is a Raith Rovers F.C. supporter - a team he has supported since boyhood - and he is a member of the consortium which led a community buy out of the club in December 2005.
Brown's brothers are John Brown, Head of Public Relations, Glasgow City Council and Andrew Brown, a PR consultant for British utility company EDF Energy.
He was elected to Parliament as a Labour MP for Dunfermline East in 1983, becoming opposition spokesman on Trade and Industry in 1985, then Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, before becoming Shadow Chancellor in 1992.
After the sudden death of John Smith, Brown was tipped as a potential party leader, but he stepped aside and allowed Tony Blair to become leader. It has long been rumoured that a deal was struck between the two men at the Granita restaurant in Islington, that Blair promised to give Brown complete control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in the election. Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Brown has been central to the fortunes of "New Labour", and they have by and large remained united in public despite reported rifts.
As Shadow Chancellor, Brown worked hard to establish an image of fiscal competence, and to reassure business and the middle class that Labour could be trusted to run the economy without fuelling inflation. He also committed Labour to following the Conservatives' spending plans for the first two years after taking power; his 2000 Spending Review foreshadowed a large expansion of government spending.
Gordon Brown speaking at
the Urban Summit in 2002
On taking office as Chancellor, Brown sprang a surprise by giving the Bank of England operational independence in the conduct of monetary policy, and thus responsibility for setting interest rates - a policy devised by Ed Balls, his long-time chief economic adviser and now an MP and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. While he has adhered to Labour's election pledge to make no increases to the standard or higher rates of income tax, he has raised taxes in other areas like consumption.
In his April 2002 budget, he raised national insurance to pay for health spending, a tax on income separate from personal income tax. His other crackdowns on 'tax loopholes' has raised the UK tax burden from 39.3% of GDP in 1997 to 42.4% in 2006, according to the OECD, overtaking Germany. To have achieved this result with only one explicit tax rise has fuelled accusations of his imposing stealth taxes. Brown points to two accomplishments: growth and employment. An OECD report shows that, between 1997 and 2006, UK economic growth has averaged 2.7% - higher than the Eurozone's 2.1% but lower than any other English-speaking country. UK unemployment is 5.1%, down from 7% in 1997 and lower than the Eurozone's 8.1%.
In 2001 Brown sold 60% of the UK's gold reserves. The decision was latterly criticised as the price later picked up from what were then 20-year lows, meaning Brown could have raised £2 billion extra for the sale had he waited.
In October 1997, he took control of the United Kingdom's membership of the European single currency issue by announcing the Treasury would set five economic tests to ascertain whether the economic case had been made. In June 2003 the Treasury indicated that the tests had not been met.
Brown's lengthy period as Chancellor of the Exchequer has set several records. He is the longest-serving Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer (ahead of Denis Healey, who was Chancellor for 5 years and 2 months from 5 March 1974 to 4 May 1979). On 15 June 2004, he became the longest continuous serving Chancellor of the Exchequer since the Reform Act 1832, passing the figure of 7 years and 43 days set by David Lloyd George (1908–1915). However, William Gladstone was Chancellor for a total of 12 years and 4 months in the period from 1852 to 1882 (although not continuously). As he has commented upon on several occasions, his Chancellorship has overseen the longest period of sustained economic growth in the UK which started in 1993 on the United Kingdom's exit from the Exchange Rate Mechanism.
In October 2004 Tony Blair announced he would not lead the party into a fourth general election, but would serve out a full third term. Brown has for some time promoted the cause of acting to reduce Third World debt and following the Asian Tsunami Disaster this has positioned Brown well inside the curve of popular opinion in the UK. Political controversy over the relationship between Brown and Blair in advance of the prospective UK general election, 2005 continued up to that election, when Blair won a reduced majority, a reduced vote share for the Labour Party, and then confirmed that he would not fight the next general election.
The two appear for the time being to have put their differences behind them. The Labour Party even produced an election broadcast, showing the two debating policy and making jokes about their 'troubled' relationship. However, continued reports of disagreements still appear in the British media.
In 2005, Brown was listed in Time Magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Tony Blair was not included. This could be attributed to the widespread expectation that Brown has no serious rivals for the position as the next Prime Minister.
This coverage, and recent appearances, have been interpreted as preparing the ground for Gordon Brown to become Prime Minister by furthering the impression of him to be of 'statesman material' - and to replace his Scottish identity with a British one in the public mind. After the UK Local Government elections in May 2006, where Labour lost 2 in 5 of their previously controlled councils, Brown has been seen to use the failure of the Labour Party to advance his own cause in preparation for leadership. Blair has stated he will step down before the next election and said he will give ample time for his 'successor'. Brown remains the only candidate spoken of seriously in Westminster. The Labour defeat in the Dunfermline and West Fife 2006 by-election, after a campaign largely led by Brown -covering the constituency in which he lives - does however, cast doubt on his ability to win elections without Blair wooing the middle classes.
Evidence of Blair's intention to stay as Prime Minister came with news that the Blairs had rented out their "retirement home" in London's Connaught Square for a further year. After that, security renovations to the house were expected to take at least another 18 months. In the cabinet reshuffle the day after Labour's poor showing in the local elections, Blair was seen to demote former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, and former Foreign Minister Jack Straw for 'being too close to Gordon Brown'. The reshuffle was soon dubbed 'Night of the Long Knives', likened to Harold MacMillan's 1962 Night of the Long Knives'], where seven key cabinet members were disengaged in an effort to reclaim public support. At the expense of 'Brownites' Hoon and Straw however, were 'Blairites' John Reid and Hazel Blears. Following the reshuffle, Blair has come under intense pressure from many backbench MPs including former ministers, to name the date of his departure. He has refused to do this on the grounds that it would 'paralyse' government.
Works
Brown, Gordon (ed.); Wright, Tony (ed.) (1995). Values, Visions and Voices: An Anthology of Socialism. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1851587314.
Brown, Gordon (1989). Where There's Greed: Margaret Thatcher and the Betrayal of Britain's Future. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1851582282.
Brown, Gordon (ed.); Cook, Robin (ed.) (1987). Scotland: The Real Divide - Poverty and Deprivation in Scotland. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 0906391180.
Brown, Gordon (1986). Maxton: A Biography. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1851580425.
See also
Tony Blair
John Reid
John Prescott
Charles Clarke
Alistair Darling