Gordon Brown: a portrait of the man as a potential future PM

“The Budget that I lay before the House today represents more than an allocation of resources and an accounting of revenues. Because behind the numbers and statistics the central purpose of this Budget is to ensure that Britain is equipped to rise to the challenge of the new and fast changing global economy. Not just a few of us. But everyone.” This is the first sentence of Gordon Brown’s first speech as a Chancellor of the Exchequer. He delivered it on Wednesday July 2 1997. He was 46 at the time.
Gordon Brown is now 55, and a great contender in the race to 10, Downing Street. After having patiently waited 9 years in the shadow of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown is officially coveting the charge of Prime Minister.
But who’s this guy who will possibly govern Great Britain by summer 2007? Who can stop him from achieving his goal?
In this modest exposé, I will try to give you a few tracks in order to understand better what kind of politician he is, and who the man behind the politician is. His possible future accession to 10, Downing Street will then be matter of discussion.


Gordon Brown: the official portrait

James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom and a Labour Party politician. From 1983 to 2005 he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Dunfermline East in Fife, and following a reorganisation of parliamentary constituencies in Scotland he is now MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.
Brown has headed HM [Her Majesty’s] Treasury since May 1997, making him the longest continuously serving Chancellor since Nicholas Vansittart (1812-1823).

Early and private life

His father, John, was a Church of Scotland minister. While at Kirkcaldy High School Brown did exceptionally well and entered University of Edinburgh at the age of 16. While a student he suffered a detached retina in a rugby accident that left him blind in his left eye; for a time he faced the prospect of total blindness. Brown studied History at Edinburgh, graduating with First Class Honours. Brown stayed at Edinburgh to complete his Doctorate, 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 the early part of the 20th century]".
Before entering Parliament and while still a student, Brown was elected Rector of Edinburgh University and Chairman of the University Court.
Brown lectured at Edinburgh and then at Glasgow College of Technology before working as a journalist at Scottish Television. In the 1979 general election, Brown stood for the Edinburgh South constituency, but lost to the Conservative candidate, Michael Ancram. In 1986, he published a biography of the Independent Labour Party politician James Maxton, the subject of his Ph.D thesis.

Early parliamentary career

He was elected to Parliament as a Labour MP for Dunfermline East in 1983, becoming opposition spokesman on Trade and Industry in 1985, then Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, before becoming Shadow Chancellor in 1992.
After the sudden death of John Smith, Brown was one of those tipped as a potential party leader. It has long been rumoured that a deal was struck between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair at the Granita restaurant in Islington, during which Blair promised to give Brown complete 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 hard 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 committed Labour to following the Conservatives' spending plans for the first two years after taking power. Once this two-year period was over, his 2000 Spending Review outlined a major expansion of government spending (particularly on health and education).

Chancellor of the Exchequer

On taking office as Chancellor, Brown surprised many by giving the Bank of England operational independence in monetary policy, and thus responsibility for setting interest rates -- a policy devised by Ed Balls, his long-time chief economic adviser and now an MP and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. The Conservatives opposed this as a prelude to the abolishment of the Pound and entrance into the Euro zone (until Michael Portillo's appointment as Shadow Chancellor in 1999), whilst Bank of England independence had been a key plank of Liberal Democrat economic policy since the 1992 general election.

Tax policy

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.
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 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%.
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.
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.
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 1974 to 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) / we’ll talk about that later on. 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's Chancellorship has seen the longest period of sustained economic growth in UK history, although some economists point-out this growth period started under the preceding Conservative government in 1993.
Brown has been a supporter of Third World debt reduction for some time.
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 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 remains - full of reports on their mutual acrimony. Blair has stated on 7 September 2006 he would not serve out his third term and will step down before the
September 2007 Labour Party conference.

Global development and sustainability

On April 20, 2006, in a speech to the United Nations Ambassadors, Brown outlined a "Green" view of global development à good for Nicholas Stern !
"... 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 Laura had been a "little Blitzkrieg in being an act of sudden unprovoked aggression".

The man: a new Brown for a new Labour à rebranding one’s image


When Chancellor Gordon Brown and his charismatic boss Tony Blair arrived in Downing Street in 1997, the contrast between them was marked.
There was Blair, a married father-of-three, jovial, smiley, well groomed - and bursting with enthusiasm.
Then there was his older, single pal Brown - portrayed as a serious, brooding Scotsman, with his less orderly hair, crumpled suits and gnawed fingernails.
The more dour image, while useful for an aspiring chancellor, is not necessarily seen as the best asset for someone hoping to spearhead (= mener) a party's general election campaign.
Fortunately for the wannabe PM, the nine years since reaching Downing Street have seen a steady transformation in Brown's image from a rather studious bachelor to happy family man.
There is no doubt Mr Brown cultivated his sober, earnest image in the early years of his political career, at a time when Labour was attempting to shake-off its reputation for economic incompetence.
With his close-knit group of friends and advisers, such as Ed Balls and Geoffrey Robinson, Mr Brown could afford to be more relaxed.
But as shadow chancellor, he wanted to be seen as a model of rectitude and prudence, a fearsome guardian of the purse strings, unafraid of making tough decisions.

Devotion to duty

During the 1997 election campaign Gordon Brown was said to have worked an average of 18 hours a day, six days a week - after running on a treadmill for an hour each morning.
That devotion to duty was underlined by a comment from his former girlfriend of five years, Princess Marguerite of Romania, the eldest daughter of ex-King Michael of Romania, who said a relationship with him was "politics, politics, politics".
His continued bachelor status had, meanwhile, sparked rumours he was gay - something he politely but firmly denied when asked about it by Sue Lawley on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.
He had in fact been seeing PR executive Sarah Macaulay at the time, but chose not to draw attention to their relationship.
And this low-key approach continued when the couple got married in 2000, after going out with each other for six years.

Mrs Brown

Theirs was not a flashy, "Hello" magazine occasion. Instead the couple wed quietly in Fife, Scotland with close family and friends, before jetting off for a honeymoon in Cape Cod.
Unlike Cherie Blair, who goes under the professional moniker of Booth, Sarah told guests she had decided to drop her maiden name, wanting instead to be known as Mrs Brown. On 28 December, 2001 the couple became parents, with the premature birth by Caesarean section of Jennifer Jane.
Overnight, Mr Brown's serious exterior was replaced by big smiles and joy as he told the world his daughter was the "most beautiful in the world".
But tragedy struck just 10 days later when the little girl suffered a brain haemorrhage and lost her fight for life in her parents' arms at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
The image of a heartbroken chancellor, who described Jennifer as an "inspiration", touched the nation.
That meant the Browns' joy was felt all the more widely when in October 2003, the couple had a son, John - named after his grandfather.

Impressive record

Dressed down in a white open-necked shirt under a dark jumper, he could not contain his happiness as he presented the little boy to waiting photographers in a multi-coloured sleepsuit.
"Our baby is wonderful, he's beautiful, he's really full of energy and I think he's going to keep me awake for quite a number of days, weeks and months," he said.
In July 2006, the couple had a second son, James Fraser, prompting the normally reserved chancellor to exclaim: "I just love being a dad, it's great fun - there's nothing more important."
When the first studio portrait of the whole family together inevitably found its way into the hands of picture editors, after being sent out to friends and wellwishers, Mr Brown's office was happy for it to be used.
In politics, Mr Brown has shown himself as a steady pair of hands with an impressive economic record - but he has always refused to wear the official "uniform" of coat tails and white bow tie when he gives his annual Mansion House address to the world's financial bigwigs, finding the "idea of wearing such formal dress ridiculous".

Open neck shirts

Over time, Mr Brown's image has, however, undergone a considerable makeover, taking him from scruffy bachelor to groomed man about town. à Those are the needs of a media person aiming at gaining affection of would be future voters.
He has, in the process, risked accusations he is chasing photo opportunities.
He faced flak during the recent World Cup after he declared himself a staunch supporter of England, even inviting reporters to his flat to watch one of the games with him.
This seemed to be part of a conscious effort to present a lighter, more approachable image - which has also seen his traditional dark suits, white shirts and red ties make way for a more casual look with chinos, open neck shirts and the occasional pink or purple tie.
Many credit this change of wardrobe to his wife's PR-expertise - or to his backroom team's efforts to present him as a modern world-leader-in-waiting.
It has certainly been well timed after the election of the youthful David Cameron as Conservative leader.
The chancellor also smiles a lot more than he used to.
His teeth are noticeably whiter, which despite what he says, is generally seen as unlikely to be as a result of just "a few fillings".
And unlike before, where little was known about the son of a Church of Scotland Minister, no topic of conversation seems out of bounds.
In political agenda terms he has embraced subjects such as Britishness, climate change, and world poverty campaign - which included hanging out with the likes of Angelina Jolie and rock stars such as Bono.
And in an interview earlier this year, he suggested that his son John has had the controversial MMR (Measles, Mumps and rubella) jab, something Tony Blair refuses to discuss on privacy grounds.
He was also happy to tell a magazine that his underwear comes from M&S, and that he likes to wake up to the sound of hip young band the Arctic Monkeys. “The Arctic Monkeys really wake you up in the morning,” he said.
He says he owns an iPod music player and is a fan of TV's X-Factor. He also disclosed his wife believes that if anyone was going to play him in a film, it should be Hollywood sex symbol George Clooney.
Mr Brown, keen to show there is more to him than fiscal prudence, says that if he had not been an MP his dream job would have been as a football manager.
However, he swiftly side-steps a question about when he last got really drunk, by saying: "I'll be celebrating my brother's birthday soon, so let's see."
He will not reveal what he wears in bed, saying: "That's between me and the bed sheets."
But asked what springs to mind "if we say the word rabbit", he replies, with a chuckle: "Sex and the City", demonstrating his knowledge of the sex toy that is featured in the TV show.
He also has firm views on which female film star he prefers, picking Angelina Jolie over Jennifer Aniston.
But ever the diplomat, he adds: "Well, I was a fan of Friends. But I have met Angelina and Brad.
"She is very much involved in our education campaign in Africa, so I'd choose Team Jolie."
On more serious matters, Mr Brown - whose wife is expecting a little brother or sister for two-year-old John in July - hails the increased involvement of men in childcare.
"I meet fathers who talk about the issues of child care, some of them are going to parenting classes. But I believe we need this fathers' revolution," he says.
"I have a two-and-a-half-year-old son and I think it's important that we play our part and do our share."
He also outlines his belief in developing the concept of "Britishness", with the idea of "a day every year when we could come together to celebrate what makes us great as a country".
It is all quite a change from the man once mocked by opponents for talking warmly of "post neo-classical endogenous growth theory".


Brown PM ?


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 one of the few candidates 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. After the UK Local Government elections in May 2006, where Labour lost two-fifths of the councils they previously controlled, Brown has been accused of having used the failure of the Labour Party to advance his own cause for the leadership.
Were Brown to become Prime Minister, he would be the first from a Scottish constituency since the Conservative Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He would also be one of the few university-educated Prime Ministers not to have attended Oxford or Cambridge, along with Lord Russell (Edinburgh), the Earl of Bute (Leiden) and Neville Chamberlain (Birmingham).
On the 9 September 2006 Charles Clarke in an interview in The Daily Telegraph said the Chancellor has "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.
The Labour defeat in the Dunfermline and West Fife 2006 by-election, after a campaign largely led by Brown in a constituency in which he lives, has cast doubt on his ability to win elections on his own without Blair wooing middle-class voters.
However, he remains a sure bet.

The other contenders are:
John Reid à current Home Secretary. He vowed having no ambition to be labour leader. However, he is everywhere to be seen lately. He’s noticeably the one who handled the terrorist threat in the airport.
Mr Reid is seen as being close to the prime minister – he is seen as one of few heavyweight Blairite alternatives to Gordon Brown.

The major aim is to win next elections against Conservative leader David Cameron who enjoys a popular image of a young, fresh politician.

What could hinder Gordon Brown is his now delicate relationship with Tony Blair. Blair doesn’t seem to fullheartedly back his Chancellor, as he did in the past. Brown now suffers from an image that shows him eager to succeed to his former friend, and frustrated by his long wait.
On the one hand, Brown has to build himself a warmer character. In doing this, he would appear to take after Tony Blair. On the other hand, he has to drift away from Blair, as the current Prime Minister is having a hard time at the head of State.
Brown has to embody the future of New Labour and has to give his party a new breath. Isn’t it too difficult a task for a man who took part in shaping Labour as it is now? Is he to be accepted as a credible successor?
Future will tell.


This week will be crucial for Gordon Brown as he will be trying to show himself as a definitely unbeatable 'Prime Minister in waiting'. An aide describes it as an attempt to 'show what a Brown premiership will look like', in other words the Chancellor is clearly preparing the ground to become a reliable occupant of Number 10. This will start with the launch of a new bond scheme aiming at funding the mass inoculation of children in the poorest countries. He himself suggested the Finance Facility for it in 2001; Brown asked Bill Gates to help him, and he will host a Vatican envoy and leaders of all Britain's religious communities at the inauguration. Then Mr Brown will later hold talks in London with King Abdullah of Jordan, and the Prime Ministers of Italy and New Zealand.
Delivering his new political message, Mr Brown has made clear he would focus on a few issues such as childhood and health. He wants to promote aspiration and empower people to succeed, talking of an 'X-Factor Britain'. Reality TV shows and their values are at the core of Gordon Brown's speech : he wants Britons to act as contestants do in these music or business programmes do, because the landscape has changed since 1997, he said, as if he wanted to be at war again with Blairites.
à the problem of succession : Blair is now a baited PM, Brown has to be the one who will be considered able to defeat Cameron in the future elections.

© Brice 2007