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Gordon Brown

This article is about the Chancellor of the Exchequer. For the rugby player of the same name, see Gordon Brown (rugby player)

Gordon Brown
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Gordon Brown

The Right Honourable James Gordon Brown (born February 20, 1951) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom since 1997 and MP for Dunfermline East since 1983.

Born in Glasgow, he was educated at Kirkcaldy High School . After a rugby accident as a boy Brown became blind in one eye. Brown studied history at the University of Edinburgh where he gained First Class Honours and then a Doctorate. Even before entering Parliament Brown had achieved some renown, being elected Rector of Edinburgh University and Chairman of the University Court whilst still a student there, and editing The Red Paper on Scotland . Mr Brown lectured at that university and then Caledonian University before working as a journalist at Scottish TV. In 1986 he wrote a biography of the Independent Labour Party politician James Maxton.

He was elected to Parliament in 1983, becoming opposition spokesman on Trade and Industry in 1985, then Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary 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, and that Blair promised to retire at some future date, allowing Brown to become Prime Minister. 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. "Prudence" became Brown's catchphrase, and he cultivated a dour and even miserly air, though he is apparently known to friends and constituents as a good-humoured and romantic man. He also committed Labour to following the Conservatives' spending plans for the first two years after taking power.

On taking office as Chancellor, Brown sprung a surprise by giving the Bank of England responsibility for setting its base rate of interest, and thus control over monetary policy. On fiscal matters, he is regarded as having an unusually strong influence over the details of the government's spending plans. While he has adhered to Labour's election pledge to make no increases to the standard or higher rates of income tax, the conjunction of his decisions to align the national insurance threshold with the income tax threshold and then increase the national insurance rate without regard to the upper earnings limit by one percentage point has had substantially the same effect except for investment income and pensions in payment. This action, together with the increase in the tax share of national income on a cyclically adjusted basis, accounts for the recurrent accusations that Brown has faced of imposing "stealth taxes".

He is widely viewed as less enthusiastically pro-euro than most in the Blair government, and apparent rifts have occurred between him and more europhile members of Cabinet (such as Peter Hain and Jack Straw).

On 28 December 2001, a daughter Jennifer Jane was born prematurely to Brown and his wife Sarah. Jennifer Jane died 8 January 2002. Their second child, a son John, was born on 17 October 2003. Sarah Brown (formerly Sarah Macaulay) is a public relations executive and until 2001 was Chief Executive of Hobsbawm Macaulay, the consultancy she owned with Julia Hobsbawm.

Gordon Brown is the longest-serving Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, ahead of Denis Healey, who was Chancellor for 5 years and 2 months (March 5 1974 to May 4 1979). On 15 June 2004, Gordon Brown became the longest continuous serving Chancellor of the Exchequer since the Reform Act 1832, passing the figure of seven 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).

In May 2004, opinion polling suggested that Labour would only win a parliamentary majority at the next general election if Gordon Brown were leader instead of Tony Blair. [1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3697615.stm John Prescott claimed "the tectonic plates are shifting", but in October 2004 Tony Blair announced his intention to serve out a full third term.

Bibliography

  • 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.
  • Biographies
    • Peston, Robert (2005). Brown's Britain: How Gordon Runs the Show. Short Books. ISBN 1904095674.
    • Bower, Tom (2003). Gordon Brown. HarperCollins. ISBN 000717540X.
    • Keegan, William (2003). The Prudence of Mr Gordon Brown. John Wiley. ISBN 0470846976.
    • Naughtie, James (2001). The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage. Fourth Estate. ISBN 1841154733.
    • Routledge, Paul (1998). Gordon Brown: The Biography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684819546.

External links

  • HM Treasury - Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/ministerial_profiles/minprofile_brown.cfm
  • 10 Downing Street - Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page1378.asp
  • Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Gordon Brown http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,,-644.html
  • They Work For You - Gordon Brown http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/?pid=10068
  • LookSmart - Gordon Brown http://search.looksmart.com/p/browse/us1/us317836/us317916/us559898/us560051/us5
    66889/us561023/us597475/us599068/us670882/us10140098/us10140104/us10140152/
    directory category
  • Open Directory Project - Gordon Brown http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Scotland/Society_and_Culture/Poli
    tics/Parties/Labour/MPs/Brown,_Gordon/
    directory category


Preceded by:
Kenneth Clarke
Chancellor of the Exchequer
1997–
Followed by:
Current Incumbent






Last updated: 02-07-2005 08:30:38
Last updated: 05-03-2005 17:50:55