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)

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

Constitutional innovations 1997-98.

 * Independence for the Bank of England
 * (the 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

Fiscal contraction 1997-2000

 * the budget balance changed from a deficit of 2.4 per cent of national income in 1996-7 to a surplus of 2.4 per cent in 2000-01, and the national debt fell from 42.5% of  in 1996–97 to 30.7% of national income in 2000–01

2001 General election: Labour 40% 413 seats; Conservative 32% 166 seats;  Liberal Democrats 18% 52seats

Budgetary changes 2001-2007

 * increased investment in health and education
 * the current budget balance moved from a surplus of 2.4 per cengt of national income in 2000–01 to a deficit of 0.3 per cent of national income by 2007–08 and the national debt rose to 36.5 per cent of national income in 2007–08.

The Euro

 * 9 June - Brown delivers the Treasury assessment on the euro, saying that economic tests for UK membership have not been met.

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

International activities 1999-2007

 * Chair of the International Monetary and Finance Committee 1999-2007

2007-2009 Financial Crisis

 * October 2008 £500 billion bank rescue plan, including powers to take equity stakes in ailing banks and an undertaking to guarantee interbank loans.
 * Britain's bank rescue plan adopted in the EU and the USA

2010 Deficit reduction plans

 * 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.
 * 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.

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

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