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The Rt HonDr Gordon BrownMP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Kenneth Clarke
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%)
Personal details
Born	(1951-02-20) February 20, 1951 (age 73) Giffnock, Scotland
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Sarah Macaulay
Children	Jennifer Jane (died when 10 days old), John and James Fraser
Residence	11 Downing Street
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh
Profession	Academic (Historian); Journalist
Signature	File:Gordon Brown's signature.png

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom and the Leader of the Labour Party. He is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

Brown will become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 27 June 2007 following the resignation of Tony Blair, when the Queen will invite him to form a government.

Early life and career before parliament

Brown was born in Giffnock, near Glasgow. His father, John Ebenezer Brown, was a Church of Scotland minister. Gordon Brown was educated firstly at Kirkcaldy West Primary School, and then, between 1961 and 1967, at Kirkcaldy High School, where he performed well and was placed in an academic fast stream. He was accepted by the University of Edinburgh to study history at the age of 16. As a student, he suffered a detached retina, after being kicked in the head during an end of term rugby match. 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 University, while playing tennis, he noticed the same symptoms in his right eye. After undergoing experimental surgery at Edinburgh Infirmary the eye was saved, ensuring he did not go totally blind.

Brown graduated from Edinburgh with First Class Honours MA in 1972, and stayed on to complete his Doctorate (which he gained in 1982), 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 the Labour movement from the seventeenth century onwards, but evolved to more modestly describe "Labour's struggle to establish itself as the alternative to the Conservatives ".

In 1972, while still a student, Brown was elected Rector of Edinburgh University and Chairman of the University Court. Brown served as Rector until 1975, and he also edited The Red Paper on Scotland. Brown served as a temporary lecturer at Edinburgh, before working as a lecturer in Politics at Glasgow College of Technology from 1976 to 1980. He then worked as a journalist at Scottish Television, later serving as current affairs editor until his election to parliament in 1983.

In the 1979 general election, Brown stood for the Edinburgh South constituency, but lost to the Conservative candidate, Michael Ancram.

Election to parliament and opposition

He was elected to Parliament on his second attempt as a Labour MP for Dunfermline East in 1983 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 Ph.D. 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.

After the sudden death of John Smith in May 1994, Brown was one of those tipped as a potential party leader. It has long been rumoured that a deal was struck between Blair and Brown at the Granita restaurant in Islington, in which Blair promised to give Brown control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in the leadership 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 mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts.

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.

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

Chancellor of the Exchequer

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). Brown has stated that his Chancellorship has seen the longest period of sustained economic growth in UK history , although part of this growth period started under the preceding Conservative government in 1993, and the details in Brown's growth figures have been challenged.

Bank of England Independence

On taking office as Chancellor, Brown gave the Bank of England operational independence in monetary policy, and thus responsibility for setting interest rates. The Conservatives opposed this until 1999, as a prelude to the abolishment of sterling and entrance into the Euro zone, whilst Bank of England independence had been a key plank of Liberal Democrat economic policy since the 1992 general election.

Taxation and spending

Brown adhered to Labour's 1997 election pledge of not increasing the basic or higher rates of income tax. He reduced the starting rate from 20% (pre-1997) to 10% (1999) before abolishing the starting rate in 2007, and reduced the basic rate from 23% (pre-1997) to 22% (2000) and then 20% (2007).

Brown has increased the tax thresholds in line with inflation, rather than earnings, which rise more quickly during periods of economic growth. This results in fiscal drag in which more taxpayers are drawn into the upper rates (e.g. in 2000-01 there were 2,880,000 higher-rate taxpayers, whereas in 2005-06 there were 3,160,000).

Corporation tax has fallen under Brown, from a main rate of 33% (pre-1997) to 30% (1999) and then 28% (2007), and from 24% to 19% for small businesses (although the lower rate is set to rise to 22% by 2010).

Once the two-year period of following the Conservative's spending plans was over, Brown's 2000 Spending Review outlined a major expansion of government spending, particularly on health and education. In his April 2002 budget, Brown raised national insurance to pay for health spending; this is a tax on income separate from personal income tax. Brown has changed tax policy in other ways, such as the working tax credits. This is one of several ideas borrowed from the US Clinton administration whereby welfare payments are accounted for as negative taxation. The separate means-testing process for tax credits has been criticised by some as bureaucratic, and in 2003-04 and 2004-05 problems in the system led to overpayments of £2.2bn and £1.8bn respectively However, economic theory suggests that tax credits can strengthen work incentives for those at the margin between employment and unemployment, and the IFS has estimated that the reforms brought at least 50,000 single mothers into part-time work.

In practice Brown's policies have resulted in the poorest fifth of households comparatively paying more tax and receiving a lower share of benefits since Labour's election victory in 1997. The Centre for Policy Studies found that the poorest fifth of households accounted for 6.9% of all taxes paid in 2004-5, up from 6.8% in 1996-7. Meanwhile, their share of state benefit payouts dropped from 28.1% to 27.1% over the same period.

According to the OECD UK taxation has increased from a 39.3% share of GDP in 1997 to 42.4% in 2006, going to a higher level than Germany. This increase has mainly been attributed to active government policy, and not simply to the growing economy. To have brought this about with only one explicit tax rise has led to accusations of Brown imposing stealth taxes. A commonly reported example resulted in 1997 from a technical change in the way that corporation tax is collected, the indirect effect of which was for the dividends on equity investments held within pensions to be taxed, thus lowering pension returns and allegedly contributing to the demise of some pension funds.

Growth development and employment

Brown has pointed to two main accomplishments: growth and employment. An OECD report shows UK economic growth has averaged 2.7% between 1997 and 2006, higher than the Eurozone's 2.1%, though lower than that of any other English-speaking country. UK unemployment is 5.5%, down from 7% in 1997 and lower than the Eurozone's average of 8.1%.

In October 1997, Brown 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 the tests had not been met.

Between 1999 and 2002 Brown sold 60% of the UK's gold reserves at $275 an ounce. It was later attacked as a "disastrous foray into international asset management" as he had sold at close to a 20-year low. Prices went on to reach $700 an ounce in May 2006 - he could have raised £4bn for the public had he waited. He pressured the IMF to do the same, but it resisted.

Under Brown the windfall 'telecoms' radio spectrum auctions gathered £22.5 Billion for the government, by using a system of sealed bids and only selling a restricted number of licences, they extracted the high prices from the telecom operators.

Brown feels it appropriate to remove much of the unpayable Third World debt but does not feel that all debt should be wiped out .

On 20 April 2006, in a speech to the United Nations Ambassadors, Brown outlined a "Green" view of global development:

"... far from being at odds with each other, our economic objectives and our environmental objectives now increasingly reinforce each other. ... Environmental sustainability is not an option - it is a necessity. For economies to flourish, for global poverty to be banished, for the well-being of the world's people to be enhanced - not just in this generation but in succeeding generations - we have a compelling and ever more urgent duty of stewardship to take care of the natural environment and resources on which our economic activity and social fabric depends. ... A new paradigm that sees economic growth, social justice and environmental care advancing together can become the common sense of our age."

Higher education

In 2000, Brown started a major political row about higher education (referred to as the Laura Spence Affair) when he accused Oxford University of elitism in their admissions procedures.

He described their decision not to offer a place to state school pupil Laura Spence as "absolutely outrageous" and implied that their decision was based on her background rather than her academic potential. This started a major and hotly argued row in the media in which Oxford strongly denied these accusations.

With his comments, Brown can arguably be credited with raising widening participation to Higher Education higher up the political agenda. However, at the same time, many of his opponents said that Brown's comments were ill founded, including Lord Jenkins (then Chancellor of Oxford University) who said that "nearly every fact he used was false," and that said Brown's speech about Spence had been a "little Blitzkrieg in being an act of sudden unprovoked aggression".

Anti-racism and popular culture

During a diplomatic visit to India in January 2007, Brown responded to questions concerning perceived racism and bullying against Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on the British reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother saying, "There is a lot of support for Shilpa. It is pretty clear we are getting the message across. Britain is a nation of tolerance and fairness." He later said that the debate showed that Britain wanted to be "defined by being a tolerant, fair and decent country."

In October 2006 Brown presented the lifetime achievement award to George Martin at the UK Music Hall of Fame awards.

Run up to succeeding Blair

In October 2004 Tony Blair announced he would not lead the party into a fourth general election, but would serve a full third term. Political controversy over the relationship between Brown and Blair continued up to and beyond the 2005 election, which Labour won with a reduced parliamentary majority and reduced vote share. The two campaigned together but the British media remained - and remain - full of reports on their mutual acrimony. Blair, under pressure from within his own party, announced on September 7 2006 that he would step down within a year. Brown has been the clear favourite to succeed Blair for several years and remains so with experts and the bookmakers; he is the only candidate spoken of seriously in Westminster. Recent appearances and news coverage have been interpreted as preparing the ground for Brown to become Prime Minister, in part by creating the impression of a statesman with a vision for leadership and global change.

When Brown becomes Prime Minister, he will be the first from a Scottish constituency since the Conservative/SUP Sir Alec Douglas-Home in 1964. He would also be one of the few university-educated Prime Ministers not to have attended Oxford or Cambridge, along with the Earl of Bute (Leiden), Lord Russell (Edinburgh), Ramsay MacDonald (London) and Neville Chamberlain (Birmingham). James Callaghan and John Major were not university-educated.

On 9 September 2006 Charles Clarke in an interview in The Daily Telegraph said the Chancellor had "psychological" issues that he must confront and accused him of being a "control freak" and "totally uncollegiate". Brown was also "deluded", he said, to think that Blair can and should anoint him as his successor now.

By the start of 2007, prospects of any significant current or former Cabinet-level contender to Brown receded significantly, and Brown's odds with major bookmakers became as short as 1/10 on. A number of those tipped as potential rivals ruled themselves out - notably Education Secretary Alan Johnson, who declared he would contest the deputy leadership, and Environment Secretary David Miliband, who stressed his support for Brown to close down speculation of a possible challenge. Despite his disavowals, attempts to draft Miliband to run continued, with the launch of a website by former Ministers Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke, obstensibly to debate policy, but widely viewed as an attempt to test the water. However, this widely-covered initiative was also a seen as sign of weakness in that the project appeared to have no credible champion to carry the banner in a leadership contest. Only candidates from the left of the party, John McDonnell and previous Environment Secretary Michael Meacher declared their willingness to contest the election; each would need to gain 44 nominations from Labour MPs required to make the ballot. Either would be rank outsiders in a contest, both have agreed that the candidate with the highest number of nominations when Blair steps down, will give way to the other to stand for the left of the party.

From January 2007 the media reported that Brown had now "dropped any pretence of not wanting, or expecting, to move into Number 10 in the next few months" - although he and his family will likely use the more spacious 11 Downing Street. This enabled Brown to signal the most significant priorities for his agenda as Prime Minister - stressing education, international development, narrowing inequalities (to pursue 'equality of opportunity and fairness of outcome'), renewing Britishness, restoring trust in politics, and winning hearts and minds in the war on terror as key priorities - speaking at a Fabian Society conference on 'The Next Decade' in January 2007.

As Brown is Chancellor of the Exchequer, he could become prime minister and retain this office, and thus remain in No 11 Downing Street. Whilst the majority of Prime Ministers have derived their cabinet position from being First Lord of the Treasury, the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer has also been used, last by Balfour in 1905. It is however unlikely, as in his March 2007 budget speech he referred to Gladstone having delivered twelve budgets by fulfilling both offices at once, and concluded that is "something no one should ever contemplate doing again".

On the eve of the 2007 budget, Brown's character was attacked by Lord Turnbull who worked for Brown as Permanent Secretary at the Treasury from 1998 to 2002. Turnbull accused Brown of running the Treasury with "Stalinist ruthlessness" and treating Cabinet colleagues with "more or less complete contempt". This was especially picked up on by the British media as the comments by Turnbull were made on the eve of Brown's (expected to be last) budget report.

Tony Blair made clear of his intention to stand down as Prime Minister on 27 June in his resignation speech. On the Wednesday following this announcement, it became clear that no other candidate would gain enough nominations to get on the ballot paper with Brown. He therefore formally became Leader of the Labour party at a special Party Conference held in Manchester on 24 June.

Bid for Labour Leadership

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After months of speculation, Gordon Brown formally announced on 11 May 2007 his bid for the Labour leadership and to replace Tony Blair as Prime Minister when Blair steps down on 27 June 2007. On Channel 4 news on 16 May 2007 it was announced that Andrew Mackinlay had nominated Brown giving him 308 nominations, sufficient to avoid a leadership contest.

Since Blair's announcement of his resignation and Brown's bid for leadership, the Labour Party has gained a bounce in the polls, gaining three points after months of low polls trailing behind the opposition, the Conservative Party.

Brown launched his campaign website the same day as formally announcing his bid for leadership "Gordon Brown for Britain". The website is expected to be updated frequently in the six weeks until Blair's planned resignation.

Policies

Brown has been careful to not suggest there would not be any U-turns in the key areas of Blair's social policy or any radical breakaway from New Labour. He has however, proposed a different style of government than that of Blair's much criticised 'presidential-style' government. He has proposed a few policy initiatives, with more expected to come during the course of the campaign. Brown hasn't been too clear on certain parts of his policies but has announced/suggested that a Brown-led government would introduce the following:

• Sleaze-busting package Following the cash for honours scandal, Brown emphasised on cracking down on sleaze. This had led to belief that Brown will introduce a new ministerial code which sets out clear standards of behaviour for ministers. He had said that he intends to strip Number 10 of some the powers conferred on it by royal prerogative, including the ability to declare war. Giving the parliament more powers and rights to vet and veto appointments to senior public positions in a bid to crack down on cronyism.
• Constitutional reform Brown hasn't made it clear whether he proposes a US-style written constitution - something the UK has never had, or a looser bill of rights. He said in speech when announcing his bid he wants a “better constitution” which is “clear about the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen in Britain today”. Plans to set up an all-party convention looking at new powers for parliament and rebalancing powers between Whitehall and local government are expected. Brown has also said that he will give parliament the final say on whether British troops are sent into action in future.
• Housing House Planning restrictions are likely to be relaxed. Brown has said that he wants to release more land and ease access to ownership with shared equity schemes. He backed a proposal to build five new eco-towns, each housing between 10,000 and 20,000 homeowners - up to 100,000 new homes in total.
• Health Brown intends to have doctors' surgeries open at the weekend and GPs on call in the evenings. Doctors were given the right of opting out of out-of-hours care two years ago, under a controversial pay deal, signed by the then Health Secretary, John Reid, that awarded them a 22 per cent pay rise in 2006.
• Foreign policy Brown remains committed to the Iraq War but said in his speech on Friday that he would "learn the lessons" from the mistakes made in Iraq. He remains pro-American, but had said that he wants a more "solid but not slavish" relationship with Washington.

Other:

• ID cards Brown’s campaign manager has hinted that one of Blair’s unpopular key policies will be reviewed. The cost of the £5.5 billion scheme is spiraling. However, Brown said on 12 May that he would press ahead with it.
• Europe Brown is not thought to be keen on Blair’s wish to sign up to a new European Union “mini-treaty” which can be imposed in the UK without the need for a referendum.

Personal life

Early childhood

Mr Brown's father, John, was a Church of Scotland minister for 40 years. He was a strong influence and died in 1998, aged 84. His mother Elizabeth, known as Bunty, died in 2004 aged 86.

Until Gordon was three, the family had lived in Glasgow, a city scarred by acute poverty and rising unemployment. The experience in Glasgow defined the social conscience of his father, Dr Brown, and, in turn, had a decisive impact on his son's philosophy. "Our father never told us which way he voted," says John Brown, "but you knew, because of the poverty that he had seen, that he leaned towards Labour." However, curiously, Gordon was named after his mother Elizabeth's brother who was a member of the Conservative Party.

School - Kirkcaldy West and Kirkcaldy High

Gordon, John and Andrew Brown were brought up in the manse in Kirkcaldy, where they enjoyed, by comparison to other families, a relatively privileged existence. When Gordon was four he enrolled at Kirkcaldy West, the local primary school, where the pupils learnt to write on slate with slate pencils. Gordon excelled at sums and was set increasingly difficult tasks by his teacher, Aileen Mason. At 10, he joined Kirkcaldy High, an ancient school with a new 1950s campus (The economist Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations, is also an old boy). It was selective in its intake and its 1,200 pupils were given a "hothouse" education. At lunchtimes at Kirkcaldy High, he and his friend, Murray Elder, had debates on socialism with Miss Shaw, the librarian and a Tory.

When the time came to make money, he did so for a good cause. Gordon and his brother, John, founded The Gazette, whose proud boast was that it was Scotland's only newspaper sold in aid of African refugees. The 10-page paper, with a circulation of a few hundred, was produced on a duplicating machine, sold for three pence (later sixpence), and was inspired by one of their father's sermons. The Gazette became the vehicle for the burgeoning political philosophy of our longest serving Chancellor and provided the first glimpse of his now famous Presbyterian streak. For example, in April 1962, aged 11, he wrote an article about a church campaign in favour of television commercials against the twin demons of alcohol and tobacco. Gordon concluded his piece with a typically opinionated flourish: "Let us hope that this plan will be a success and that the sale of drink and cigarettes to the younger and older generation will fall when these against drink and cigarettes are shown."

As its sports editor and, since he was a fanatical fan of Raith Rovers (then in the Scottish first division), the team dominated every back page. He sold programmes at half-time at the ground, Stark's Park, in return for a free ticket. These days, John Brown, aged four, has been spotted on his father Gordon's knee at Raith's home matches (Brown is also a member of the consortium which led a community buy-out of the club in December 2005).

By the age of 12, he had already helped with the local Labour candidate's unsuccessful general election campaign against Sir Alec Douglas-Home, pushing Labour Party leaflets through the letter boxes of neighbours' homes, and, while most of Gordon's schoolfriends cared little about the assassination of JFK, he was devastated. Kenn McLeod, 57, who followed him from Kirkcaldy High to Edinburgh, said: "Gordon saw him as the future and could not believe the future had been so brutally snuffed out. He was shocked and stunned. He kept saying, 'I cannot believe that this has happened'."

At 14, he passed nine O-levels and just after his 15th birthday Gordon took his Highers, (the equivalent of A-levels), securing five grade As - including Maths, English, and History - that confirmed the young Brown's prodigious talent. Gordon was part of the E-stream - the E stood for early - which fast tracked the brightest 16-year-olds to university. At Kirkcaldy High School, he was a fearless member of the scrum - playing flanker - in the rugby team at 15, while the other boys were 17 and 18; he was a junior tennis champion and played the violin in the orchestra. He was also popular with the girls who thought he was handsome and going places.

Edinburgh University

At Edinburgh University, where he took a first in history and wrote a PhD on the Labour socialist movement in Scotland. Bob Cuddihy, a colleague in student politics and a local television presenter, remembers: "Everybody was concerned about his eye. They would form a protective circle around him in the pub. There was always a queue of lasses, including my girlfriend, who were admirers. He had an energy, magnetism, and a terrific voice. I saw the power Gordon had to mesmerise people." After editing The Student magazine, in which he famously exposed the university's investments in pro-apartheid South Africa, he became the second ever student rector; chairman of the university court and second in importance only to the chancellor, the Duke of Edinburgh. He was 21. His campaign was backed by an enthusiastic group of women known as the Brown Sugars, forerunners of the Blair Babes. He was also very messy, even by student standards. One flatmate has commented: "He was oblivious to his domestic surroundings. But it was at least better than his first flat. When I visited that a few years earlier, I vowed never to go back. There should have been a bio-hazard sign on it. It was a slum."

Scottish Television and later life

After university and a spell of teaching at Edinburgh and then at Glasgow College of Technology, he began work as a researcher at Scottish Television, where colleagues recall an impressive young man who did a mean impression of the fascist Oswald Mosley during a mock interview. But his heart was set on a career in politics. He first stood for an Edinburgh seat, with little hope of success, in the 1979 general election which swept Margaret Thatcher to power. He was then selected for the safe Labour seat of Dunfermline East in his family's backyard. When he announced his resignation to fight the seat in the 1983 general election, Bill Brown, the managing director of Scottish TV, declared himself unimpressed. He asked: "Can you tell me why we employed that young man?" Russell Galbraith, who was head of news and current affairs, replied: "Mark my words, one day we will be working for him."

Married Life

Previous girlfriends included the journalist Sheena McDonald, Marion Calder and Princess Margarita, the eldest daughter of exiled King Michael of Romania. She has said about their relationship: "It was a very solid and romantic story. I never stopped loving him but one day it didn't seem right any more, it was politics, politics, politics, and I needed nurturing."

Brown married Sarah Macaulay in a private ceremony at his home in North Queensferry, Fife, on 3 August 2000 after a four-year courtship. She is a public relations executive and was, until 2001, Chief Executive of Hobsbawm Macaulay, the consultancy firm she owned with Julia Hobsbawm (daughter of the notable Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm). They met when her company was advising the Labour-supporting New Statesman magazine in 1994 and the relationship blossomed alongside Labour's electoral success. On 28 December 2001, a daughter, Jennifer Jane, was born prematurely and died on 8 January 2002. Gordon Brown commented at the time that their recent experiences had changed him and his wife:

"I don't think we'll be the same again, but it has made us think of what's important. It has made us think that you've got to use your time properly. It's made us more determined. Things that we feel are right we have got to achieve, we have got to do that. Jennifer is an inspiration to us."

Their second child, John, was born on 17 October 2003. Their third child, a son, James Fraser, was born on 17 July 2006; it was reported on 29 November 2006 that he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

Mrs Brown, unlike Cherie Blair QC, rarely appears at public events with her husband and until recently even missed his Budget speeches. She intends to remain out of the limelight as much as possible but accepts that her life will change when she moves into 10 Downing Street. However, to date, she has never given a magazine or television interview but is now inundated with requests to break her silence. She is unlikely to do so.

Brothers and Awards

Of his two brothers, John Brown is Head of Public Relations in the Glasgow City Council and Andrew Brown Head of Media for the French-owned utility company EDF Energy.

Brown received honorary degrees from Edinburgh University in 2003 and Newcastle University in 2007 (DCL). He received an Honorary Doctorate alongside Alan Greenspan from New York University in 2006.

Prime Minister designate

With the Labour Party still having a sustantial majority on the day Tony Blair tenders his resignation to the Queen, the Queen will then appoint the Leader of the Labour Party, Gordon Brown, as Prime Minister.

Views of Brown in the media

This section needs expansion. You can help by making an edit requestadding to it .

Brown was played by David Morrissey in the Stephen Frears directed TV movie The Deal. In impression shows and in general, Brown is depicted as miserly, dour and humourless. He is, apparently, a man who will stop at nothing to become Prime Minister, something he now seems to have finally achieved. It is not known how his media portrayal will change after this.

See also

• Blair-Brown deal
• Cabinet of the United Kingdom
• UK general elections: 1983, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2001, 2005, subsequent election
• Labour Party leadership election, 2007

Notes

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6639945.stm
2. Will he? Won't he?, The Guardian, 26 September 2004
3. Brown's first taste of power BBC News 15 July 2005
4. About The Red Paper on Scotland Red Paper on Scotland website.
5. Webster, Philip (1994-05-13). "Friends Blair and Brown face a difficult decision; Death of John Smith". The Times. The Times. Retrieved 2007-03-26. As probably the two most powerful figures in the party, they have the agonising task of deciding whether they should at last become rivals and vie for the crown, or whether one should stand aside for the other to become the centre candidate to succeed Mr Smith. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
6. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,971644,00.html
7. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901050124-1018039-2,00.html
8. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6506365.stm
9. Short, Claire (2003-10-27). "On the edge of a volcano". New Statesman. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. "Labour Party Manifesto, General Election 1997". Retrieved 2007-03-30.
11. http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/about/CI/CP/Our_Society_Today/News_Articles_2005/economy.aspx?ComponentId=8723&SourcePageId=11412
12. http://society.guardian.co.uk/publicfinances/story/0,,1439789,00.html
13. http://money.independent.co.uk/personal_finance/tax/article6625.ece
14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/issues/4423887.stm
15. ^ Figures from A survey of the UK tax system Adam, S. and J. Browne, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Briefing Note No. 9, March 2006
16. More get tax credit overpayments BBC News, 31 May 2006
17. The impact of tax and benefit changes between April 2000 and April 2003 on parents' labour supply Blundell, R., M. Brewer and A. Shepherd, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Briefing Note No. 52, 2004
18. Poor lose out in Brown's tax reforms, The Times 3 September 2006.
19. General Government Outlays as percentage of GDP OECD
20. Brown's raid on pensions costs Britain £100 billion, The Daily Telegraph 16 October 2006.
21. OECD Economic Outlook No. 78 Annex Tables - Table of Contents OECD
22. National Statistics Unemployment rate
23. The five tests The Guardian 29 September 2000
24. UK 'not yet ready for the euro' BBC, 9 June 2003
25. HM Treasury review of UK gold reserves sales
26. Brown's gold sale losses pile up as bullion price surges Scotsman.com website 28 November 2005
27. Fury over the great gold sale, opinion piece by Alex Brummer, Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee website.
28. "Gordon Brown & IMF Gold Sales". Tax Free Gold. Retrieved 2007-03-30.
29. http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,178157,00.html
30. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/369846.stm
31. Speech by Gordon Brown, New York, 20 April 2006
32. "Oxford 'reject' wins Harvard scholarship". BBC News. BBC. 2000-05-22. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
33. "Peers condemn Oxford attack". BBC News. BBC. 2000-06-15. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
34. "Full text of Gordon Brown's speech". Guardian Unlimited. Guardian News and Media Limited. 2007-02-27. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
35. Cowell, Alan (2006-09-08). "Blair to Give Up Post as Premier Within One Year". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
36. "Are you Statistically Prepared to Become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?". BBC - h2g2. BBC. 2005-08-01. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
37. Sylvester, Rachel (2006-09-09). "Clarke attack on Brown 'the deluded control freak'". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
38. Bright, Martin (2006-09-11). "It must be Gordon, Gordon, Gordon". New Statesman. New Statesman. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
39. Temko, Ned (2007-01-14). "Brown invokes JFK as No 10 beckons". The Observer. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
40. "Make education our national mission" (Press release). Fabian Society. 2007-01-15. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
41. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070321/debtext/70321-0004.htm
42. Naughton, Philippe (2007-03-20). "Brown hit by 'Stalinist' attack on Budget eve". The Times. Times Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 2007-03-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
43. "Blair to stand down on June 27". The Guardian. 2007-05-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
44. "Poll surge as Brown unveils policy blitz". The Observer. 2007-05-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
45. http://www.gordonbrownforbritain.com/
46. "Gordon's manifesto for change". The Times. 2007-05-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
47. "Poll surge as Brown unveils policy blitz". The Observer. 2007-05-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
48. The Telegraph, The making of Gordon Brown, 9 June 2007 Accessed 10 June 2007
49. The Telegraph, The making of Gordon Brown, 9 June 2007 Accessed 10 June 2007
50. The Telegraph, Wife will seek to stay out of the limelight, 12 May 2007 Accessed 10 June 2007
51. The Telegraph, The making of Gordon Brown, 9 June 2007 Accessed 10 June 2007
52. The Telegraph, The making of Gordon Brown, 9 June 2007 Accessed 10 June 2007
53. The Telegraph, The making of Gordon Brown, 9 June 2007 Accessed 10 June 2007
54. The Telegraph, The making of Gordon Brown, 9 June 2007 Accessed 10 June 2007
55. "Gordon Brown profiled", The Guardian, March 6, 2001
56. The Telegraph, Losing baby has changed us forever, says Brown, 6 Feb 2002 Accessed 10 June 2007
57. The Telegraph, Wife will seek to stay out of the limelight, 12 May 2007 Accessed 10 June 2007

References

Works:

• Brown, Gordon (2006); Speeches 1997-2006, edited by Wilf Stevenson. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0-74758-837-6
• Brown, Gordon (ed.); Wright, Tony (ed.) (1995). Values, Visions and Voices: An Anthology of Socialism. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1-85158-731-4.
• Brown, Gordon (1989). Where There's Greed: Margaret Thatcher and the Betrayal of Britain's Future. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1-85158-228-2.
• Brown, Gordon (ed.); Cook, Robin (ed.) (1987). Scotland: The Real Divide - Poverty and Deprivation in Scotland. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 0-906391-18-0.
• Brown, Gordon (1986). Maxton: A Biography. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1-85158-042-5.

Biographies:

• Bower, Tom (2003). Gordon Brown. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-717540-X.
• Brivati, Brian (2002). 'Gordon Brown' in Labour Forces, Jefferys, Kevin (ed). IB Taurus Publishing. ISBN 1-41751-633-X
• Keegan, William (2003). The Prudence of Mr Gordon Brown. John Wiley. ISBN 0-470-84697-6.
• Maguire, Kevin (2001). 'Gordon Brown' in Dictionary of Labour Biography, Rosen, Greg (ed). Politicos Publishing. ISBN 1-90230-118-8
• Naughtie, James (2001). The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage. Fourth Estate. ISBN 1-84115-473-3.
• Peston, Robert (2005). Brown's Britain: How Gordon Runs the Show. Short Books. ISBN 1-904095-67-4.
• Routledge, Paul (1998). Gordon Brown: The Biography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81954-6.

Others:

• Pym, Hugh & Kochan, Nick (1998), Gordon Brown the First Year in Power, Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747537011.
• Rawnsley, Andrew (2001). Servants of the people: The inside story of New Labour. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-027850-8.
• Rosen, Greg (2005). Old Labour to New. Politicos Publishing. ISBN 1842750453
• Routledge, Paul (2003). Bumper Book of British Lefties. Politicos Publishing. ISBN 184275064X

External links

• Gordon Brown's leadership campaign website
• Audio and Transcript of Gordon Brown’s First Speech as Labour Party Leader on 24 June 2007
• HM Treasury - Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer
• 10 Downing Street - Chancellor of the Exchequer, The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Gordon Brown MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Gordon Brown
• BBC News - Gordon Brown in Africa January 2005 trip about his 'Marshall plan for Africa'
• Open Directory Project - Gordon Brown directory category
• Gordon Clown - Satirical blog covering Gordon Brown's activities
• Observer: How Gordon Brown become the most powerful Chancellor in history
• Gordon Brown 'The Socialist Challenge' Extracts from his introduction to 'The Red Paper on Scotland' (1975)

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