Brown, Gordon

Brown, Gordon (b. 20 Feb. 1951) British; Chancellor of the Exchequer 1997– Brown was educated in Edinburgh and graduated from the university with a Ph.D. He worked as a lecturer, and then as a journalist and editor on current affairs programmes in Scottish television. His background shows in his skills as a communicator, both in writing press releases and in broadcast interviews. He entered the House of Commons in 1983, winning the safe Labour seat of Dunfermline East and was elected to the Labour Shadow Cabinet in 1987, on the strength of a number of good parliamentary performances. He then held a number of senior economic posts, starting with the job of shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. This post enabled him to substitute for the shadow Chancellor John Smith during the latter's lengthy convalescence following a heart attack. In 1989 he was promoted to be shadow Trade and Industry spokesman.

Following Labour's 1992 election defeat he succeeded Smith as shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer when the latter was elected party leader. At the time Brown was seen as the next party leader. He was bitterly disappointed when, on Smith's death in 1994, he found that his close friend Tony Blair had overtaken him. Although Brown agreed not to stand for the leadership, it took some time for him to come to terms with his failure. However, the two continued to work closely in modernizing the party. He also took the view that it was no longer sufficient for Labour to rely on the working class and the trade unions, and that it would have to appeal to the more affluent and aspirational voters. It would also have to relegate the role of public ownership, and its traditional commitment to redistribution by taxation. Brown kept an iron control over the spending promises of his colleagues. This enabled him to make a crucial announcement before the general election that Labour would accept the Conservative public spending plans for the next two years and hold income tax rates for the lifetime of the next parliament. In the new Labour government formed in May 1997 Brown was made Chancellor of the Exchequer.