Gordon Brown/Timelines

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)

1987 General election: Conservative 46% 358 seats; Labour 30% 155 seats; Liberal/SDP alliance 24% 10seats 1992 General election: Conservative 42% 336 seats; Labour 34% 271 seats; Liberal Democrats 18% 20seats
 * 1984 Brown attends Democratic National Convention on San Francisco
 * 1987 Brown appointed Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
 * 1989 Appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
 * 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

First term 1997-2001
2001 General election: Labour 40% 413 seats; Conservative 32% 166 seats;  Liberal Democrats 18% 52seats
 * Bank of England Act 1998, 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
 * Budget 1998
 * Budget 1999
 * Budget 2000
 * Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 established the Financial Services Authority to combine the functions of 6 regulatory bodies - supplemented by a three-party memorandum of understanding
 * Budget 2001

Second term 2002-2005

 * Budget 2002
 * Enterprise Act 2002 gives political independence and additional investigatory and punitive powers to the competition authorities
 * Budget 2003
 * Budget 2004
 * Budget 2005
 * Better Regulation Commission

2005 General election: Labour 35% 356 seats; Conservative 32% 198 seats;  Liberal Democrats 22% 62 seats
 * Gleneagles Summit 2005

Third term 2005-07

 * Budget 2006
 * Budget 2007

2007

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

2008

 * February.  The Northern Rock bank is "nationalised''.
 * 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.
 * 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  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
 * November. The head of the IMF asks for a coordinated fiscal stimulus of 2 per cent of GDP
 * 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); 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.
 * 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".
 * October. The end of the recession and the beginning of a gradual recovery.

2010
2010 General election: Conservative 36% 306 seats; Liberal Democrats 23% 57 seats, Labour 29% 258 seats.
 * 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.

Awards and appointments

 * Chair of the International Monetary and Finance Committee 1999-2007
 * World Statesman Award 2009 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