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

Constitutional innovations 1997-98.

• Independence for the Bank of England

(the Bank of England Act[2], 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

Public sector investment and fiscal expansion 2001-2007

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

Prime Minister

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.

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