Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline East from 1983 to 2005, and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2005 to 2015.

A doctoral graduate, Brown studied history at the University of Edinburgh. He spent his early career as a lecturer at a further education college and television journalist. Brown was elected to the House of Commons at the 1983 general election as the MP for Dunfermline East. He was appointed to Neil Kinnock's shadow cabinet in 1989 and was appointed Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer by John Smith in 1992. Following Labour's victory in the 1997 general election, Brown was appointed as Chancellor, becoming the longest-serving in modern history. Brown's time as chancellor was marked by major reform of Britain's monetary and fiscal policy architecture, transferring interest rate setting to the Bank of England, extension of powers of the Treasury to cover much domestic policy and transferring banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority. Brown presided over the longest period of economic growth in British history. He outlined five economic tests, which resisted the UK adopting the euro. Controversial moves included the abolition of advance corporation tax (ACT) relief in his first budget, the sale of UK gold reserves from 1999 to 2002, and the removal in his final budget of the 10% starting rate of income tax which he had introduced in the 1999 budget.

Following Blair's resignation in 2007, Brown was elected unopposed to succeed him as prime minister and party leader. The party continued as New Labour, though Brown's style of government differed from Blair's. He remained committed to close ties with the United States and to the war in Iraq, although he established an inquiry into the reasons for Britain's participation in the conflict. Brown's government introduced rescue packages to keep banks afloat during the 2007–2008 financial crisis, and so national debt increased. The government took majority shareholdings in Northern Rock and Royal Bank of Scotland, which had experienced severe financial difficulties, and injected public money into other banks. In 2008, Brown's government passed the world's first Climate Change Act, and introduced the Equality Act 2010. Despite poll rises just after Brown became prime minister, after he failed to call a snap election in 2007, his popularity fell and Labour's popularity declined with the Great Recession. Labour lost 91 seats in the 2010 general election, resulting in a hung parliament in which the Conservative Party won the most seats. After the Conservatives formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, Brown was succeeded as prime minister by Conservative leader David Cameron, and as Labour leader by Ed Miliband.

After leaving office, Brown returned to the backbenches, continuing to serve as MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath until he gave up his seat in 2015. He has since made occasional political interventions, and published political-themed books. Brown played a prominent role in the campaign to maintain the union during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, and in 2022 wrote a report on devolution for Labour leader Keir Starmer. Brown has served as the UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Ambassador for Global Health Financing for the World Health Organization. Brown was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour by King Charles III in the 2024 Birthday Honours for public and charitable services in the UK and abroad. As chancellor, Brown had high approval ratings and a poll of political scientists rated him the most successful chancellor in terms of economic stability, working independently from the prime minister and leaving a lasting legacy on the British economy. His premiership has been viewed less favourably; although public opinion of Brown has improved since he left office, his premiership has been viewed as average in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers.