Gordon Brown/Timelines
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Parliamentary Career
Opposition 1983-97
- 1983 Elected Member of Parliament for Dunfermline East as a member of the Labour Party under the leadership of Neil Kinnock.
- (Maiden speech[1])
- 1984 Brown attends Democratic National Convention on San Francisco
1987 General election: Conservative 46% 358 seats; Labour 30% 155 seats; Liberal/SDP alliance 24% 10seats
- 1987 Brown appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
- 1989 Appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
1992 General election: Conservative 42% 336 seats; Labour 34% 271 seats; Liberal Democrats 18% 20seats
- Brown appointed Shadow Chancellor
- John Smith replaces Neil Kinnock as Leader of the Opposition.
- 1993 3-day visit to the United States and meeting with Alan Greenspan.
- 1994 Death of John Smith
- 31 May - Meeting with Tony Blair at the Granita restaurant
- 8 September - Strategy conference at the Chewton Glen hotel
1997 General election: Labour 43% 418 seats; Conservative 31% 165 seats; Liberal Democrats 17% 46seats
Chancellor of the Exchequer 1997-2007
First term 1997-2001
- Bank of England Act 1998[2], gave the Bank responsibility for setting interest rates to meet the Government's stated inflation target.
- Five tests for Euro membership
- Code for Fiscal Stability
- Pre-budget reports
- Budget 1997[3]
- Budget 1998[4]
- Budget 1999[5]
- Budget 2000[6]
- Financial Services and Markets Act 2000[7] established the Financial Services Authority to combine the functions of 6 regulatory bodies - supplemented by a three-party memorandum of understanding [8]
- Budget 2001[9]
2001 General election: Labour 40% 413 seats; Conservative 32% 166 seats; Liberal Democrats 18% 52seats
Second term 2002-2005
- Budget 2002[10]
- Enterprise Act 2002[11] gives political independence and additional investigatory and punitive powers to the competition authorities
- Budget 2003[12]
- Budget 2004[13]
- Budget 2005[14]
- Better Regulation Commission[15]
- Gleneagles Summit 2005[16]
2005 General election: Labour 35% 356 seats; Conservative 32% 198 seats; Liberal Democrats 22% 62 seats
Third term 2005-07
Prime Minister 2007-2010
2007
- June. Tony Blair retires, Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister and Alastair Darling becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer.
- Gordon Brown proposes the transfer to Parliament of parts of the Royal Prerogative powers that are exercised by the Prime Minister[19]
- July. The Governance of Britain[20]: a government Green Paper that proposes a transfer of power from the Executive to Parliament, and increases in its accountability to Parliament
- November. A credit crunch begins as the UK banking system suffers losses as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis[21]
2008
- February. The Northern Rock bank is "nationalised [22].
- April. Bank of England announces its Special Liquidity Scheme to allow banks to swap some of their illiquid assets for liquid Treasury Bills for up to three years [23].
- September. The collapse of the United States Lehman Brothers investment bank triggers the culminating stage of the financial crash of 2008
- October. The government launches a £500 billion bank rescue plan [1] [2] including powers to take equity stakes in ailing banks and an unlimited undertaking to guarantee bank loans.
- October. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer visit Paris and Washington: Britain's bank rescue plan is adopted in the EU and the USA[3]
- November. The head of the IMF asks for a coordinated fiscal stimulus of 2 per cent of GDP[24]
- Chancellor Darling announces a £20 billion fiscal stimulus including a temporary reduction in value added tax (amounting to about 1 per cent of GDP)[25]; and suspends the code for fiscal stability.
2009
- January. The Chancellor authorises the Bank of England to set up a Treasury-financed Asset Purchase Facility to buy high-quality assets for the purpose of quantitative easing operations [26].
- April. G20 summit
- May. An IMF team expresses confidence in the government's policies and concludes that "...we expect the authorities to deliver domestic and external stability and set the stage for a sustainable recovery"[27].
- September Financial Services Bill [28]
- October. The end of the recession and the beginning of a gradual recovery.
- December. Gordon Brown addresses the Copenhagen Conference on climate change[29][30]
2010
- February. The Fiscal Responsibility Act[4] - imposes a duty on the Treasury to ensure that by the financial year ending 2014 public sector net borrowing as a percentage of GDP is at least halved from its level for the financial year ending 2010, and to make continuing reductions thereafter.
- February. An agreement on the continuation of Northern Ireland devolution is reached
- April. Constitutional Reform and Governance Act[31][32]:
- May. The Labour Party loses power in the general election and Gordon Brown resigns as Prime Minister.
2010 General election: Conservative 36% 306 seats; Liberal Democrats 23% 57 seats, Labour 29% 258 seats.
Opposition
Awards and appointments
- Membership of the Privy Council 1996.
- Chair of the International Monetary and Finance Committee 1999-2007
- World Statesman Award 2009 [33] by the Appeal of Conscience Foundation
Personal history
- 1951 Born, Glasgow, Son of John Brown, a Presbeterian church minister
- 1954 The family move to Kirkaldy
- 1961 Starts at Kirkaldy High School
- 1966 Passes Higher School Certificate (A-level equivalent) examinations with 5 A grades
- 1967 Starts at Edinburgh University
- becomes a serious Rugby player, but sporting career is ended by an accident in which he loses the sight of his left eye
- 1970 Awarded a Master of Arts (with 1st class honours)
- 1973 Elected Student Rector, Edinburgh University
- Becomes a member of the Scottish Labour Party's National Executive
- 1976: Politics lecturer, Glasgow College of Technology
- Selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for Edinburgh South
- 1980: Journalist (current affairs) Scottish Television
- 1982: Doctor of Philosophy, Edinburgh University
- 1983: Selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for Dunfermline East - and elected to parliament
- 1996: Appointed Member of Privy Council
- 2000: Marriage to Sarah Macaulay