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
- 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
- Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
2001 General election: Labour 40% 413 seats; Conservative 32% 166 seats; Liberal Democrats 18% 52seats
- Enterprise Act 2002
- Competition Act 2002
- Budget 2005}
- Better Regulation Commission[3]
2005 General election: Labour 35% 356 seats; Conservative 32% 198 seats; Liberal Democrats 22% 62 seats
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- Chair of the International Monetary and Finance Committee 1999-2007
Prime Minister 2007-2010
- October 2008 £500 billion bank rescue plan [1], 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[2]
- Fiscal Responsibility Act[3] - 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.
Opposition
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