Gordon Brown/Timelines

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

• Budget 2006[17]
• Budget 2007[18]

Prime Minister 2007-2010

2007

• June. Tony Blair retires, Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister and Alastair Darling becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• November. credit crunch begins as UK banking system suffers losses as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis[19]

2008

• February. The Northern Rock bank is "nationalised [20].
• 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 [21].
• September. The collapse of the United States Lehman Brothers investment bank triggers the culmination of the financial crash of 2008
• October. The government launches a £500 billion bank rescue plan 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 adopted in the EU and the USA
• November. The head of the IMF asks for a coordinated fiscal stimulus of 2 per cent of GDP[22]
• November> Chancellor Darling announces a £20 billion fiscal stimulus including a temporary reduction in value added tax (amounting to about 1 per cent of GDP)[23]; 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 [24].
• 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"[25].
• October. The end of the recession and the beginning of a gradual recovery.

2010

• February. The Fiscal Responsibility Act - 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
• 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.

Awards and appointments

• Chair of the International Monetary and Finance Committee 1999-2007
• World Statesman Award 2009 [26] 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