Unfit To Govern

Born: 20 Feb, 1951 in Giffnock, Renfrewshire, Scotland (James Gordon Brown)
Father: John Ebenezer Brown, minister of the Church of Scotland (died 1998)
Mother: Jessie Elizabeth Souter, known as Bunty, daughter of a Timber Merchant (died 2004)
School: Kirkcaldy High School
Graduated: from Edinburgh University with First Class Honours MA in 1972

The young Gordon was brought up in the Manse in Kirkaldy, the largest town in Fife, Scotland across the river Forth from Edinburgh. After taking part in an experimental ‘fast track’ education program he entered Edinburgh University at the young age of 16. During an end-of-term school rugby union he received a kick to the head and suffered a retinal detachment. This has left him blind in his left eye.

After graduating with a 1st class honours MA in 1972 he stayed on to complete his PhD (which he gained ten years later in 1982), titled The Labour Party and Political Change in Scotland 1918–29.  From 1976 to 1980 Brown was employed as a lecturer in Politics at Glasgow College of Technology.

1n 1979 he stood for Parliament but lost to a Conservative, Michael Ancram. He was elected to Parliament on his second attempt as a Labour MP for Dunfermline East in 1983. The Conservatives were in power. His first Westminster office mate was a newly elected MP from the Sedgefield constituency called Tony Blair.

He remained an opposition Labour MP for over 10 years until the landslide labour victory in 1997 when Tony Blair became Prime Minister.  (It has long been rumoured that a deal was struck between Blair and Brown at a 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 which took place prior to the General Election).

He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. He immediately made his mark by giving the Bank of England operational independence in monetary policy, and responsibility for setting interest rates through the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee. He also transferred banking supervision responsibility to the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Brown’s ten years and two months as Chancellor of the Exchequer made him the longest-serving Chancellor in modern history.

At the age of 49, Brown married Sarah Macaulay in a private ceremony at his home in North Queensferry, Fife, on 3 August 2000. The Browns have 2 children, John & James. James has been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Unfortunately a 3rd child, Jennifer Jane, was born prematurely and died in 2002

When Blair announced in September 2006 that he would step down within a year Brown was the clear favourite to succeed him.  Brown finally became the Prime Minister on 27 June 2007.

Brown’s premiership coincided with the global recession, during which the United Kingdom led calls for fiscal action to stimulate aggregate demand. Domestically, Brown’s administration introduced a range of measures including a bank rescue package worth around £500 billion (approximately $850 billion), a temporary 2.5% cut in Value Added Tax (Sales Tax) and a “car scrappage” scheme.

In April 2009, Brown gave what was the first ever speech by a serving Prime Minister at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Brown remained Prime Minister until Labour’s defeat in the May 2010 election after which he resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown confirmed he intends to stay on in Parliament, serving as a Labour Backbencher, in order to serve the people of his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency.

This profile is an extract of the entry for Gordon Brown on Wikipedia.

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