Scandal in the UK: Gordon Brown insulted a woman on the air. Gordon brown became prime minister of Great Britain Gordon brown foreign and domestic policy briefly
Despite the strong positions of the Laborites, Blair himself in 2002-2003. more than once came under fire from the harshest criticism - primarily in connection with the pro-American foreign policy and the extremely unpopular war in Iraq. More than 60 deputies of the ruling party signed an appeal to the prime minister, in which they expressed their serious concern about the American plans for a military strike on Iraq and the possible participation of Great Britain in it. Blair's pro-American policies were strongly opposed by rank-and-file members of the Labor Party at the annual congress in Brighton in September 2002. The work of the congress was accompanied by thousands of people protesting against the military adventure in Iraq, and the party itself was on the verge of a split. The party leadership remained unconvinced, but the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Robin Cook, kept his word and resigned shortly after the start of the military operation, and after its completion he published a book in which he convincingly proved that Prime Minister T. Blair knew that Iraq there are no weapons of mass destruction ready for use within 45 minutes. Several other members of the government followed his example, which almost led to an acute government crisis in Britain. And just before that, the body of Defense Department bioweapons expert Dr. David Kelly had been found in Oxfordshire, accusing the government of inflating the Iraqi threat as a pretext for a military invasion. As a result of the leakage of confidential information, a loud scandal erupted in the country, and the desperate scientist committed suicide, unable to bear the weight of accusations and reproaches from the ruling circles. The House of Commons of the British Parliament immediately created a commission of Lord Hutton to investigate the circumstances of the death of a famous microbiologist, the Prime Minister was forced to testify in court, and the opposition to his government received additional arguments in favor of the resignation of the Labor government.
In these difficult conditions, in October 2003, another conference of the ruling Labor Party was held in Bournemouth, at which a significant part of the delegates opposed certain aspects of the domestic and foreign policy of the cabinet and even demanded the resignation of the leader. T. Blair reaffirmed his devotion to the alliance with the United States and expressed confidence that the violent overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq benefited the entire world community. “I can only go one way,” he told the delegates to the congress. “I don’t have reverse gear.” Most of the congress delegates supported the policy of the ruling cabinet, which was largely facilitated by the undoubted successes of Great Britain in recent years in the field of national economy and social relations. For the first time in history, British Labor had a real chance to rule the country for a full two terms and complete the planned reform program. However, Blair risked a snap election to further consolidate his success.
Elections were held in May 2005 The victory of the Laborites was not so spectacular (they received only 37% of the vote against 33% for the Conservatives and 22% for the Liberal Democrats), but thanks to the majoritarian system they received a sufficient majority in parliament. The legislative program announced after the elections included already fairly well-known priorities - the continuation of the reform of the House of Lords and suffrage, the reform of the armed forces in the context of a pan-European, the adoption of bills on combating terrorism and crime, social protection and changes in the pension system. It was even planned to discuss a bill on the creation of a special government agency "to fight for the right of Great Britain to host the 2012 Olympic Games." But behind all these plans was the desire of the government to avoid any adjustment of its course at all. The opposition parties could do nothing to oppose the main argument of the Laborites - economic stability. In such a situation, the only "challenge" for Blair was the foreign policy situation. Objectively speaking, Blair proved to be, if not a talented, then a very effective diplomat. He very skillfully built his country's strategy in the face of difficult discussions about EU enlargement and the development of a European constitutional treaty (gaining political dividends and a project development period, and after its failure). Under Blair, for the first time in a long time, relations with Russia became very lively, which after 2000 significantly strengthened its position on the world stage. And of course the strongest relations connected London with the American allies. After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, Blair immediately declared that Great Britain would provide Washington with any support in the fight against international terrorism and did not renounce his promises when the military operation began in Afghanistan, and then in Iran. But this is precisely what caused a sharp drop in his popularity. Initially, British society fully supported the course towards allied relations with the United States. But a fundamentally new situation developed in 2005 after a bloody terrorist attack took place in London on July 7. Responsibility for it was taken by militants from the Islamist organization Al-Qaeda. The political resonance of this event was enormous. The first explosion in the London Underground occurred about an hour before the opening of the G8 summit, which was held in the UK, and the day after the announcement of London as the capital of the 2012 Olympics. And on July 21, despite a sharp increase in security measures, another attempt was made in London to carry out terrorist attacks.
It should be noted that the United Kingdom until recently was considered a country where almost the greatest tolerance was shown towards Islamist organizations. The active participation of Great Britain in the "anti-terrorist coalition" did not change this tradition. Now the Blair government had to revise many principles of not only foreign but also domestic policy, including taking measures to tighten criminal procedure and immigration laws, deport representatives of Islamist organizations, and restrict freedom of speech in the press and television. The first steps in this direction were taken already in the summer of 2005. On the whole, however, Blair's attempts to introduce tough anti-terrorism legislation failed, when even some Labor MPs opposed them.
The political crisis of the mid-2000s and the return of the conservatives to power. In November 2005, a movement began in the Labor parliamentary faction to impeach Blair: the prime minister's actions before the Iraq war, when, according to critics, he deliberately misled parliament, served as the basis. The prime minister's old comrade-in-arms and chief rival, Gordon Brown, continued to declare his loyalty to Blair. However, some Brown supporters refused to support Blair unconditionally and demanded that he give Blair enough time to prepare for the next election. In February 2006, Blair suffered a rather curious setback in Parliament when his proposed bill to criminalize incitement to racial hatred was defeated by a one-vote majority. At the same time, shortly before the vote, the prime minister himself left the meeting, expecting that the number of “against” votes would be significantly larger.
In 2006, the topic of Iraq was still one of the most acute in the political life of Great Britain. In February, there was a scandal when videos were published showing British soldiers allegedly beating young Iraqis. In March 2006, anti-war activists criticized Blair for his statement that the decision to go to war with Iraq would be ultimately judged by God alone. Speaking on ITV1, the Prime Minister said: "If you believe in God, God must judge." “The only possible way to make a decision of this kind is to try to act in accordance with your conscience.” Blair staunchly defended his Iraq policy and stressed the importance of partnership with the United States. At the end of March 2006, in a speech before the Australian Parliament, Blair announced that in Iraq and Afghanistan there was a decisive struggle for the values to which the West is committed, and therefore the participation of the West in it is necessary. According to Blair, all the reactionary forces in the Muslim world oppose the goals of Western democracies, realizing that the victory of the West will be the strongest blow to their ideology.
In 2006, demands for Blair's resignation became louder in connection with a whole series of scandals. In March, it was revealed that some wealthy businessmen who had made large secret loans to the Labor Party had received seats in the House of Lords, knighthoods or other titles in what was called "loans for the peerage" or "money for honorary titles". Another scandal was associated with the name of the Minister of the Interior, Charles Clark. According to an investigation by a parliamentary committee, between 1999 and March 2006, more than a thousand foreign prisoners, including those guilty of serious crimes, were released. This happened as a result of the mistakes of the Ministry of the Interior, when, according to the law, the criminals should have been deported from the country. In addition, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was convicted of adultery - he had an affair with one of the employees, and the husband of the Minister of Culture Tessa Jowell, lawyer David Mills, was accused of taking a bribe from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Blair himself was accused of using the royal plane for vacation trips with his family.
On May 4, 2006, Labor was defeated in the local elections with only 26% of the vote. The results of opinion polls showed that 50% of the British are in favor of the resignation of the prime minister, while 36% would like his dismissal immediately. Only 26% of people in the UK were satisfied with the work of the Prime Minister. Polls showed that in the general election, Blair would have been supported by 30 percent of voters, and Conservative leader David Cameron by 3 percent. In the event of a confrontation between Cameron and Brown, the advantage would also be on the side of the conservatives: 41% to 31%.
The announcement of the election results by Labor was followed by new demands for Blair's resignation. The state of affairs in the Labor Party was called "civil war". Brown's supporters insisted that Blair step down as Treasury Secretary, although Brown himself still avoided confrontation. However, according to The Independent newspaper, in an interview, Brown nevertheless showed impatience, talking about the need to "renew" the party and using the word "renewal" 25 times within 20 minutes. According to Brown, the defeat in the local elections was a "warning shot" for the government.
Under mounting pressure, in mid-May 2006, Blair told members of his Cabinet that he intended to step down in the summer of 2007 and announced his support for Brown's candidacy as the new head of government. On June 24, 2007, internal elections were held in the Labor Party, in which Gordon Brown won - he was the only candidate for the post of leader of the Labor Party. On June 27, Blair officially resigned as prime minister, giving it to Brown, who had worked in the Blair government for ten years as Chancellor of the Exchequer (Minister of the Treasury). Brown was 56 at the time. Brown's worldview was based on the ideas of workers' socialism, followed by a drift towards a new "ideal" in the person of the former head of the American Central Bank, Alan Greenspan. The definition of his personal qualities is even more controversial: “a gloomy intriguer, sowing discord”, “delicate, generous, with a great sense of humor”, “a reliable politician, but touchy and vindictive”. But in terms of intelligence and seriousness, Brown clearly outweighed Blair. For his stubbornness and unbending will, he received the nickname "Iron Chancellor" and even one specific inner-party nickname - "Stalin". It is curious that for many years Brown remained a bachelor, patiently enduring gossip about his unconventional orientation, and only in 2000 did he marry Sara Macauley, a 37-year-old head of a PR agency. During the last period of the Blair administration, Brown's influence on the formation of government policy was extremely significant. To many analysts at the time it was argued that Britain's internal politics were already "Brownian" at their core. But at the same time, Brown had little to no involvement in the unpopular foreign policy of his predecessor.
The first 100 days of Brown's premiership were marked by a number of more pragmatic initiatives that the British took very positively. Among them are the construction of new cheap and environmentally friendly housing in the British provinces and on former military training grounds, a new set of constitutional measures to ensure transparency and accountability of the authorities to the people, proposals for reforming international institutions. But the first wake-up call was the Northern Rock Mortgage Bank crisis. This Newcastle-based bank was the victim of the US mortgage market crisis spreading around the world. The Bank of England was forced to make an unprecedented financial injection of £25 billion, which ultimately failed to keep Northern Rock afloat, and in February 2008 it was nationalized. At the beginning of the summer of 2008, inflation in the country reached a record level since 1997 of 3.3%. For the first time since the 1970s, Britons rushed to bank branches to withdraw their savings in fear that global financial problems would lead to a loss of savings. In his numerous speeches, Brown complained that the country's economy is experiencing the consequences of the global crisis. However, experts point out that some of the problems in the economy were caused by the British government's own actions, including measures taken by Brown when he was head of the Treasury.
In an attempt to rectify the situation, Brown decided to reform the income tax collection, which came into force in April 2008. The main tax rate was reduced from 22% to 20%, but at the same time the minimum rate of 10% was abolished. In the context of a general rise in the cost of living, this was an additional blow to the most vulnerable social strata - young people, low-income Britons, the elderly and civil servants. Brown himself was subjected to double criticism in this situation - both for putting a "time bomb" in the budget, and for bungling attempts to compensate for the losses from the elimination of the 10 percent tax rate.
In the end, Brown's first year was an economic disaster. Labor lost all the political capital it had gained in ten years. The liquidity crunch has led banks to tighten rules on mortgage and consumer lending, while lending rates have skyrocketed. The result was a six-month-long decline in real estate prices. Inflation, meanwhile, rose to its highest level in seventeen years. The Bank of England found itself in a dilemma: raise rates and further slow economic growth (and increase the number of bankruptcies and foreclosures) or lower rates and further accelerate inflation. In addition, in June 2008 Britain was criticized by the European Commission for a sharp increase in the budget deficit caused by an increase in government spending.
During 2008-2009 both the opposition and Labor Party associates were active in criticizing Brown for the lack of a definite line in the anti-crisis policy. Many expected that under these conditions Brown would call early parliamentary elections in order to confirm the premier mandate he had received, as well as to provide the Laborites with another five years in power. However, Brown decided not to call elections - in 2008, only 23-25% of voters were ready to vote for the ruling party - a record low for British post-war politics. However, the deteriorating economic situation and the attractive initiatives of the Conservatives began to gradually "pinch off" the interest from the Labor rating. In May 2008, Labor lost the local elections, including the election of the mayor of London, and also lost the parliamentary mandate to the Conservatives in one of the so-called "reliable districts", which has long voted for the Labor Party. Brown's personal rating has also changed radically - if in 2007 65% of Britons assessed him positively, and 17% negatively, then a year later only 16% of respondents "thought well" of Brown, while 78% spoke unseemly about him . In these conditions, already within the government and the Labor faction in parliament, more and more clear calls began to be heard to consider the question of the advisability of Brown being at the head of the party and government.
More advantageous for the Brown government was the sphere of foreign policy, although the prime minister himself was practically inexperienced in this matter. From the very beginning of his premiership, despite the expectations of many British people, Gordon Brown made it clear and unequivocal that Washington remains the most important bilateral partner for London's foreign policy. Gordon Brown has established good relations with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. London managed to "bargain" for itself a lot of preferences and compromises when discussing the Lisbon Treaty on the reforms of the European Union. An important success of Brown was the holding of the G20 summit in London in April 2009. The G20 decided to jointly fight the crisis, allocate an additional $1.1 trillion for these purposes and increase the role of international organizations, including the IMF. However, despite the loud statements, only time will tell how effective these measures will be. Thus, the regulation of the global financial system will depend on changes in the US and Britain, which are the two leading financial centers of the world - New York and London. Both countries have announced imminent tightening of regulations for the financial sector, but details have not yet been announced.
Despite some foreign policy successes, the Brown government continued to "free fall". In the summer of 2009, literally within four days, six cabinet ministers announced their resignations at once. The resignations were the result of a political scandal related to the expenses of parliamentarians (in Britain, all members of the government are elected from members of parliament), which broke out in the country in May. Some of the parliamentarians used the compensation system to buy themselves luxury items. Several parliamentarians evaded paying taxes, received compensation for mortgage loans already paid. The political scandal turned out to be very inopportune. The ruling Labor Party was defeated in the local elections, finishing third behind the Conservatives (who achieved a triumphant victory) and the Liberal Democrats. Opposition Conservative leader David Cameron said that Brown's cabinet was "falling apart", which prevents the government from working normally in a crisis. He urged Brown to call parliamentary elections so that the country would get a working government.
Cameron was elected party leader in 2005 following the resignation of Michael Howard. In the House of Commons, Cameron voted for an investigation into the outbreak of the Iraq War, strongly against a hunting ban, for equal rights for members of sexual minorities, against Labor's proposed anti-terrorism laws, against the exclusion of hereditary peers from the House of Lords, for a fully elected House of Lords, against a ban on smoking. Cameron also voted against the introduction of identification cards for British citizens and called himself a Euroskeptic. Cameron's strong point was his experience in economic policy matters. In addition, he had the image of a young, ambitious leader and was a good speaker. Frequent criticism of Cameron's "excessive religiosity" under certain conditions could easily develop into another political bonus, and his aristocracy and elitism were complemented by small but catchy "democratic touches" (for example, his ardent attachment to bicycle trips). It was very difficult for the Laborites to resist such an opponent. All Brown managed to do was to stay in power until the next election, held in May. 2010
The Conservative Party's election program included pledges to support the pound sterling, actively support businesses, reform the banking system, reduce unemployment, reform the education system and the National Health System, as well as the development of a "green economy" and a high-tech industry with the aim of making the UK a leading exporter of high-tech products in Europe. The Conservatives also promised to actively fight crime, reform the local government system, limit the influx of immigrants into the country, strengthen the UK's position on the world stage and actively defend national interests. The Labor Party's electoral program contained promises to support economic recovery and encourage the high-tech sector of the economy, public control of banks, the creation of high-speed railways, reform of the unemployment support system in order to prevent living on benefits after 6 months of being unemployed, increase funding for the education system, improve the work of the National health systems, reducing crime, supporting sports and culture in connection with the 2012 Summer Olympics, limiting harmful emissions into the atmosphere, holding a referendum on reforming the British Parliament (in particular, the House of Lords), rearming the army and an active foreign policy. The Liberal Democrats' election program was focused on broad tax cuts (including the abolition of income tax on the first £10,000 earned), the redistribution of budgetary spending and a number of other measures aimed at stabilizing the economy, increasing economic growth and increasing the welfare of the British. In addition, the Liberal Democrats proposed the intensive development of high technologies and the "green economy" in general, immigration control, the development of public transport (primarily environmentally friendly) and the unification of the efforts of the world community to combat climate change. Thus, there is no reason to talk about a significant difference between the election platforms. All of them were quite technocratic in nature, and the results of the elections were determined rather by their political background. As a result, 36.1% of voters voted for the Conservatives, 29% for the Labor Party, and 23% for the Liberal Democrats. Taking into account the single-mandate electoral system, 306 seats were received by the Conservative Party, 258 by the Labor Party, and 57 by the Liberal Democrats. Other parties won 28 seats (in particular, the Green Party of England and Wales entered the parliament for the first time). So none of the parties won a majority in the House of Commons and the opportunity to form a one-party government. A “hung parliament” situation arose, and on May 7, 2010, Brown even announced that he did not intend to resign, and then put forward the idea of his own resignation as a basis for creating a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. However, they preferred a coalition with the conservatives. And on May 11, 2010, David Cameron was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as the 75th Prime Minister of Great Britain. On May 12, 2010, for the first time in post-war history, a coalition government was formed - the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, took over as deputy prime minister.
As head of government, Cameron began to promote the concept of transferring administrative powers from the center of government to the communities, that is, to the "local level". In July 2010, he announced the creation of a similar self-government in several localities. This idea of Cameron provoked criticism from the Laborites, who expressed doubts about the possibility of organizing funding for such projects. In February 2011, Cameron's statement at a security conference in Munich caused a great resonance: the Prime Minister criticized the state policy of non-interference in the functioning of different cultures in the UK and advocated the formation of a national identity that could prevent the radicalization of young people (primarily turn, Muslim) in the country. This statement was one of a series of speeches by European leaders proclaiming the collapse of multiculturalism in Europe. But it has brought some tension into the inter-party relations between conservatives and liberal democrats. Coalition solidarity was negatively affected by the result of the referendum on the reform of the electoral system, held in May 2011. This referendum was a concession made by the Conservative Party in order to conclude a coalition agreement. It was proposed to abandon the majoritarian system, when the candidate with a simple majority of votes won in each district, and move to the "alternative voting" (AV) system, when voters place candidates in order of preference, which is taken into account when counting votes, and the winner the candidate who receives in aggregate at least 50% of the votes in the constituency becomes the candidate. In the opinion of the Conservatives, such a move would damage the traditional spirit of British political life. So Conservative leaders David Cameron and Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg, despite working together in government, led opposite campaigns in the referendum. At the same time, leading opposition politicians from the Labor Party, including its leader Ed Miliband, as well as the leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas, turned out to be in the camp of supporters of the transition to AV. The Conservatives managed to win this difficult confrontation and significantly strengthen their positions in the ruling coalition (about 19 million people voted in the referendum, 68% of whom rejected the reform). In addition, the Liberal Democrats lost a significant number of seats in the municipal elections in England, as well as in the parliaments of Scotland and Wales.
The strengthening of the political positions of the hasty conservatives was soon threatened - in August 2011, the largest riots took place in London and some other British cities, accompanied by pogroms, arsons, looting of shops and clashes with the police. British authorities have announced a "zero tolerance" policy for rioters. On August 10, Cameron spoke of the need to use water cannons to disperse crowds and arrest rioters, and subsequently supported the idea of evicting them, along with their families, from social housing. On August 15, Cameron delivered a speech in which he noted the moral decline of many Britons, manifested in irresponsibility and selfishness, and connected it with "moral neutrality" - the unwillingness of society to explicitly define moral standards. Speaking about the reasons for the atrocities, which are mainly satisfied by young people from low-income families, the prime minister expressed the opinion that they lie in an unfavorable social policy. “We must have a social security system that will not encourage laziness and idleness,” he said.
Behind Tony Blair for more than a decade as government minister number two, Gordon Brown has finally stepped out of the shadows.
Brown took Britain without a fight. There was no need to announce a competition for the vacant post of prime minister. The Laborites did not bother with intra-party elections: Brown simply did not have any competitors.
After Blair announced the date of his departure, all likely candidates hastily withdrew their candidatures, casting "votes" to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Last Sunday, at an emergency party conference in Manchester, Brown was simply "approved" as head of the Labor Party.
The inauguration of a new British prime minister thus becomes, in the caustic remark of British commentators, "an ordination" or a "coronation."
Here's what a dry, personnel-friendly characterization of the new head of the British government might look like. Age - 56 years. Born in the family of a priest. Nationality - Scottish. Education - higher, graduated from the Department of History of the University of Edinburgh. Member of the Labor Party from the student bench. Since 1983 - Member of Parliament from the Labor Party. From May 1997 to June 2007 - Chancellor of the Exchequer of Her Majesty, which corresponds to the position of Minister of Finance. Married, has two children. Hobby - politics.
And now, in the language of mathematics, let's open the brackets and try to decipher it all. The foundation of Brown's worldview is based on the ideas of workers' socialism, followed by a drift towards a new "ideal" in the person of the former head of the American Central Bank, Alan Greenspan.
In his university years, the new British prime minister was passionately infatuated with a classmate - the heiress to the Romanian throne, Princess Margareta, who lived in Britain in exile, the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England. The passionate romance of the couple in love lasted five years, after which Gordon cheated on the princess with the Labor Party.
In his student years, during a rugby match, he received a severe injury - an eye injury, after which he almost went blind. This explains some peculiarity of his gaze - the mutilated eye seems to be motionless.
At the age of 32, he is elected as a member of parliament from the Labor Party and already at this stage he sketches the composition of his future cabinet of ministers. It is said of him that he is so obsessed with politics that he does not blow his nose into a handkerchief before he calculates what political consequences it will have.
The definition of his personal qualities is extremely controversial: "a gloomy intriguer, sowing discord", "delicate, generous, with a great sense of humor", "a reliable politician, but touchy and vindictive". All "terms" converge, however, to the fact that Brown is "a mind chamber." In terms of intelligence and seriousness, he outweighs Blair. For stubbornness and unbending will, he received the nickname "Iron Chancellor". Another nickname is "Stalin".
Gordon Brown, however, turned out to be too flamboyant a figure to fade in a decade in the shadow of his boss, Tony Blair.
Modest in everyday life, selfless in work, but completely devoid of charisma and Blair charm. He would never publicly drink Coca-Cola from a can like Tony did. And also will not "informally" sit with their ministers, lounging on sofas and without ties. Attempts to charm the press and the public are actually doomed to failure.
For many years he remained a bachelor. Patiently endured loud gossip about his unconventional orientation. In 2000, he married Sara Macaulay, a 37-year-old pretty red-haired head of a PR agency. Their first child, Jennifer Jane, was born prematurely and died ten days old. In 2003, son John was born, two years later - James Fraser. The youngest son of the Browns suffers from a severe congenital disease - cystic fibrosis.
Gordon and Sarah diligently hide their personal lives from strangers. Unlike the Blairs, the Browns only appear together in public on exceptional occasions. They allowed their children to be photographed only when Sarah left the hospital with a newborn.
It is highly unlikely that Gordon Brown's shy wife will become as prominent a character in British public life as Cherie Blair. Sarah dresses old-fashioned, practically does not use makeup and, according to experts, urgently needs to change her image. Brown has a reputation as an exemplary family man, but the chancellor of the exchequer, unlike his prime minister, did not take parental leave.
"I'm ready. I'm ready to serve," said Gordon Brown to the British as he prepared to take office. Becoming the new head of government, Gordon Brown does not change his place of residence. At a time when Tony Blair, who handed the resignation request to the queen in the morning, is hastily expelled from his service apartment with his belongings, Gordon Brown remains where he was.
In Britain, the chancellor and the prime minister traditionally live under the roof of the same house, in neighboring apartments - number 10 and number 11. Blair and Brown, when settling in living quarters above the prime minister's office, exchanged traditional places, because the prime minister's, number 10, was cramped for Blairs with many children, while Brown was at that time a single bachelor.
In principle, the tradition of the transfer of power in Britain is very bizarre: the ex-premier is expelled from his place of residence faster than a failed spy is deported from the country, literally a few hours after the defeat of his party in the elections. Photojournalists enthusiastically capture the whole mournful plot of loading the ex-premier's belongings into cars standing in the courtyard of the government office.
From such a humiliating procedure, the former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson fled at one time through the back door. As for Tony Blair, he left power today from the front door. Which is logical: Tony did not lose the election, he simply took and gave way to the prime minister's chair to his longtime comrade and associate.
The "partnership" of Blair and Brown, however, is a separate issue. According to eyewitnesses, Cherie Blair, who clearly disliked Brown for encroaching on the authority of her husband, shouted at her neighbor more than once in her hearts: "For God's sake, Gordon, stop being so boorish to Tony!" The relationship of these two, who praised each other in public, in fact, for ten years was nothing more than a fierce competitive struggle.
It is also known that in recent years, Cherie Blair persistently persuaded her husband to expel Brown from the government. However, Tony was obviously afraid that he would not be able to pull out the “turnip” of successful leadership of the country without Gordon. Experience had proven to Blair time and again that without Brown, things would not go well.
According to a staunch British legend, Blair made a savvy deal with Brown in 1994 after the death of John Smith, then head of the Labor Party. Over lunch at London's Granita restaurant, Tony allegedly persuaded Gordon to withdraw his candidacy from the list of contenders for leadership on the pretext that he himself had a better chance of seducing the British voter. And he promised at the same time that if he wins the general parliamentary elections, "in due course" he will transfer his post to Brown. The transfer of power dragged on for a long ten years.
All these years, Brown breathed down Blair's neck, waiting for the time when the favor would finally be paid. Meanwhile, Tony, winning one parliamentary election after another for his party, was in no hurry to pay his dues.
Brown, however, proved to be too flamboyant a figure to fade in a long decade in the shadow of his boss. By proving his right to leadership and charging a "fee" for ceding power, Brown forced Blair to put at his disposal such gigantic "patrimonial estates" as the country's domestic politics and its economy. The granting of complete independence from government to the Bank of England was the first act of Brown's sovereign rule. The Chancellor of the Exchequer distanced his prime minister from his "specific principalities" so far that it came to situations that were frankly anecdotal. When Brown decided that Britain would not join the single European currency, he did not even consider it necessary to inform Blair of this. Having "accidentally" learned about the fateful decision for the country, Tony was forced to seek clarification from Brown's press secretary, who was sitting at that time in a pub with a mug of beer. And the chancellor's press secretary kindly explained to the head of government that during this parliamentary convocation, Great Britain would not introduce the "euro".
The power-sharing between Blair and Brown became so clear over time that, in the words of Lance Price, a former Labor Party communications chief, "it felt like you were in a coalition government." Finally, it became difficult to determine who really rules the country - Tony or Gordon. One thing is clear: all of Britain's current internal politics and its successful economy are basically "Brownian".
What can not be said about foreign policy. This "patrimony" was wholly and completely "Blair's", and Brown showed practically no interest in it. How the new prime minister will manage in the international arena therefore remains a big and open question.
Clearly, Brown is noticeably more Eurosceptic than Blair. Obviously, in matters of global politics, he is not a "doc", and by nature he is not a god knows what diplomat. And certainly not a showman and not a "darling" like Tony.
Prominent political scientist, professor at the London School of Economics Michael Cox, to my question about whether the foreign policy of Britain will change under Brown, answered the following: “Gordon Brown is surprisingly silent in matters of foreign diplomacy. Just like the Buddha. the score is very difficult. But it cannot be ruled out that Brown does not share all of Blair's views on world politics and that reversals will follow."
The fact that, unlike Tony Blair, Gordon Brown will obviously not "sit on the lap of the American president" can be considered a serious turnaround. It was Tony's purely personal pernicious passion, from which neither his government nor Parliament could cure him.
Most likely, Brown will be less loyal to the EU as well, professing the principle of "friendship is friendship, but money and laws are apart." Africa will be his foreign policy strong point. Brown is obsessed with ending child poverty on this continent. He does not promise an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq or an investigation into the invasion of Iraq. But he has already acknowledged the mistakes made by the British government and intends to correct them by diligently rebuilding Iraq.
In general, the general forecasts agree that with the departure of the bright and charismatic Blair, Britain will look more pale on the world stage.
But on the domestic political scene, with a high degree of certainty, we can expect big tectonic shifts. Brown is rumored to be preparing a series of public administration reforms that will radically change, if not eliminate, the role of the Treasury Secretary in the near future. It is likely that the role of the treasury as a whole will also be reviewed. It is logical to assume that Brown thereby undercuts a potential enemy, not wanting someone to rule the country with him for two, as he himself did under Blair.
In general, there are rumors that Brown is preparing a series of constitutional reforms so powerful that they will literally shake the nation. In particular, the prominent British publicist and economist Will Hutton, calling Brown "the biggest reformer of the British state apparatus in the last half century," predicts that Brown will go down in history as a politician who, unlike Blair, will leave behind a remarkable legacy.
The question today, however, is how much time is given to Gordon Brown for the historical exploits predicted for him?
Brown is likely to take a hitherto uncalculated maneuver: the announcement of general parliamentary elections much earlier than hitherto expected. Brown's already announced appointment of an election coordinator in the current Secretary of Transportation, Douglas Alexander, frankly signals that the election may not take place in 2009, but in the spring of next year.
This seemingly risky move could actually turn into a fanfare for Labor leader Gordon Brown and a death knell for opposition Conservative leader David Cameron. A bravura overture of his own, different from Blair's, program, those first 100 days of government, for which he carefully prepared for 10 years, can sharply inflate the shares of his government. By the elections of 2008, the new prime minister will come up fresh and not bored. And the fact that Brown does not want to wear power like an old coat from someone else's shoulder and is ready to confirm his right to leadership with a legitimate mandate from voters, of course, will only add points to him.
This prominent modern English politician comes from a family of a Presbyterian pastor, for which he later received the nickname "pastor's son." The future chairman of the British government, Gordon Brown, was born on February 20, 1951.
His hometown is Kirkcaldy (Fife region). His parents, John Ebenezer and Jessie Elizabeth Suter, placed him in Western Elementary School, where he entered a fast-paced experimental course he hated.
However, it was thanks to this circumstance that Gordon saved two years of his teenage academic life by entering high school earlier, and at the age of 16 he was already accepted by the history department of the University of Edinburgh, where Brown was awarded the title of rector (British universities call this title of representatives from the student community) .
First test
It was in adolescence that the future financier and politician faced the first serious test. He was playing rugby for the school team when he was hit in the head with a ball. Because of this injury, his retina began to peel off.
The parents undertook an intensive treatment regimen, but this did not help, and as a second year student at the University of Edinburgh, Gordon completely lost the ability to see in his left eye.
However, this was not all, since the fate of the only full-fledged eye remained at stake. And only after a special operation, which was experimentally carried out by the doctors of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, the danger of losing the right eye also passed.
Students and science
All these trials did not prevent Brown from completing his studies at the university with honors (1972), but he decided not to quit his studies, enrolled in a master's program, received a doctorate in philosophy (1982) and at the same time managed to teach political science in Glasgow, where the College of Technology was located (1976). -1980).
At the same time (1979) he made his first attempt to become a Member of Parliament and chose the constituency of Edinburgh South as his springboard. However, he lost to his competitor, who turned out to be the Conservative candidate Michael Ankram. For some time, apparently in order to gain experience in competent positioning, Gordon worked as a journalist, and then as an editor for Scottish television.
Successes in politics
The second attempt to break into parliament was successful (1983). By then, Gordon Brown had changed constituency running for Dunfermline East. Two years later, he is already working as a spokesman for the opposition bloc, overseeing trade and industrial issues. A year later, Brown publishes his first political work.
It turned out to be a biography of James Maxton, who was known as a talented politician of the Independent Labor Party of the middle of the 20th century. Apparently, all these actions were distinguished by excellent literacy, since in the period 1987-1989 Gordon was in the status of executive secretary of the treasury, and later - the shadow minister of commerce and industry.
1992 was the year when he was awarded the status of shadow chancellor. By that time, he had already managed to quite loudly declare his political ambitions, becoming at the same time a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention and signing the Claim of Right for Scotland, a new protest document containing another declaration of rights for the Scottish people.
In parallel, Brown led the campaign in favor of the Labor movement, refusing to support a cross-party campaign supporting rights for the Scots.
Among the sharks of big politics - on an equal footing
The results of such active actions were not long in coming. Two years later, when Labor leader John Smith died suddenly, Gordon was poised as a potential contender to fill his seat. However, having calculated, as a true financier, all the risks, he did not want to enter into a confrontation with the then obvious party favorite in the person of Tony Blair.
However, there is another version of the events that took place in those hot days. It is said that between Blair and Brown there was a deal, and even her place was named - the former restaurant "Granite" (this area of Greater London is called Islington).
Allegedly, Brown, as payment for his non-participation in the election campaign as a candidate for party leader, demanded the opportunity to fully control the economic policy of the state. It was a very competent proposal, which, by the way, received its further continuation. Whether Brown and Blair agreed or whether they each disagreed with their own opinions, no one knows.
However, as members of the same party, despite the reports in the press about serious personal differences between them, in public they were indivisible allies. The same circumstance played into the hands of the party as a whole, and New Labor enjoyed well-deserved success.
Meanwhile, not entering into a fight with Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, nevertheless, continued to score points. During the years of his duties as a shadow chancellor, his task remained the desire to win business representatives and a layer of "white collars" over to his side, positioning his competence as a candidate for the position of chancellor.
He tried to convince them that the Laborites were quite capable of managing the economy without increasing inflation and unemployment, plus maintaining budget allocations for these socially significant processes at the same level.
Assuming the coveted chancellorship, he publicly instructed Labor to stick to the conservative budget plans. And this is all big politics in miniature, where there are no friends, but only temporary allies for the period while they are needed.
Chancellor and Prime Minister
Gordon's activities as Chancellor lasted from 1997-2007. This is a kind of record for England today, no one has ever managed to stay in such a key position for so long. In fact, during this decade, the government has made great strides in the economic sphere.
But evil tongues claimed the opposite: they say, Brown was lucky that the conservatives left him a strong economy. Be that as it may, but over the years the British economy has grown, on average, by 2.7 percent. Although this is not a figure compared to China's fantastic achievements, the European average (2.1 percent per year) is left behind.
And this is the obvious merit of Brown the financier! At the same time, officially registered unemployment decreased by 1.5 percent - from 7 to 5.5. At the same time, the Scottish constituencies were reorganized, and Gordon became an MP for his native Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.
October 2006 was marked by Blair's refusal to continue his premiership for the fourth time, and the cherished path to the post of prime minister was open to Brown. Of course, this position was not given to him in vain. He had to listen to accusations of ruthlessness and the desire for total control according to Stalin's methods.
However, this did not prevent him from being appointed prime minister (June 27, 2007). In the same days, he got another, no less prestigious place - the leader of the Labor Party.
Assuming the post of First Minister, Gordon transferred some of his traditional powers to Parliament. He gave the green light to the continuation of the Iraqi campaign. Became a great friend of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which gave skeptics grounds to assert his distance from the United States, and Brown had to refute them.
The global food crisis and rising inflation have given rise to the establishment to declare the need for a change of government. The Labor Party lost its positions already in May 2008. Then, on his summer vacation, Gordon was the target of the media, who predicted his successor.
He announced his intention to leave the post of prime minister two years later (May 11, 2010). And at the same time - and leave the place of the party leader. That same evening, Elizabeth II offered to lead the government to the youngest candidate in the history of Britain for the post of prime minister, the Conservative David Cameron.
Brown did not marry until the age of 49, he married August 3, 2000 to Sarah Macaulay.
Gordon Brown photography
He received his secondary education at a Kirkodi school, where he studied under an experimental program in accordance with which students were distributed according to individual abilities. Through this accelerated program, he was later accepted into the history department of the University of Edinburgh at the age of 16 and graduated summa cum laude in 1972. with a master's degree. He holds a master's degree (1972) and a doctorate in history (1982; his doctoral work is devoted to the history of the Labor Party and political reforms in Scotland in 1918-1929).
From a young age he was an activist in the Labor Party, starting to participate in its activities at the age of 12.
In the 1970s, for his radical left views, he was nicknamed "Red Gord". Then it evolved towards the political center.
In 1972, while still a student, G. Brown was elected rector of the University of Edinburgh (the third most important post in Scottish universities, the person holding this position represents the interests of students) and remained so until 1975.
In 1972-1975 - rector of the University of Edinburgh (in Scotland, the rector represents the interests of students and is elected by them, as a rule, for three years; the functions of the head of the university are performed by the vice-chancellor). After graduating from university, he worked as a temporary lecturer.
From 1976-1980 he was a lecturer in political science at the Glasgow College of Technology.
In 1979 he ran for parliament for the first time, but lost to the Conservative Party candidate.
Best of the day
From 1980-1983 he was a correspondent and editor of international relations on Scottish television.
Member of Parliament for Dunfermline East since 1983.
In 1983-1984 - Chairman of the Labor Party in the Council of Scotland.
In 1987-1989 - Chief Secretary of the Treasury of Great Britain in the "shadow" cabinet.
In 1989-1992 - Minister of Trade and Industry of the "shadow" cabinet of ministers.
In 1992-1997 - "shadow" Minister of Finance (Chancellor of the Exchequer).
In May 1997 - June 2007 - Minister of Finance (Chancellor of the Exchequer of Great Britain) in the Labor government of Tony Blair (the longest continuous tenure in this position since the 1820s). The economic successes of the government during this period are associated with Brown's activities.
As an associate of Blair, Brown was also considered his main rival at the same time. One of the main disagreements between them was the issue of Britain's entry into the euro area: Brown was much more skeptical about this idea than the Prime Minister.
He has a reputation as a moderate Eurosceptic, belongs to the social democratic wing of the Labor Party (unlike the social liberal Blair).
Born in 1951 in Glasgow and educated in Edinburgh, where he later worked as a university lecturer and journalist, Brown was elected to Parliament in 1983, the same year as future Labor leader and Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In 1994, Brown was named among the most likely candidates for the post of leader of the Labor Party, but he did not put forward his candidacy. There is a popular story that the two powerful "Bs" then met at the Granita restaurant in the London Borough of Islington, where they made a famous deal - Brown would not cross Blair's path in his quest to become Labor leader in exchange for a high chancellorship in the "shadow" and then in a full-fledged cabinet of ministers.
Already in the twilight of his premiership, Brown confirmed in a television interview that in the 1990s he had indeed made a deal with Blair for leadership in the party, but disproved the common myth about the Granita deal.
With family and colleagues
Brown married quite late even by British standards - at 49 years old. His chosen one was PR-specialist Sarah Macaulay. On Christmas Day 2001, the Browns had a daughter, Jennifer Jane. However, the baby lived only ten days, and her death was a very heavy blow for her parents. The Browns' second child, son John, was born in October 2003, and in the summer of 2006, Sarah gave birth to another son, James Fraser. But a few months later he was given a terrible diagnosis - cystic fibrosis of the pancreas.
Family and lineage have always played an important role in Brown's life and career. The politician mentioned his father - a Scottish priest - in almost every of his keynote speeches. As a Scot by nationality, Brown constantly paid attention to the theme of a common British identity, but he never managed to achieve the introduction of a national day in Britain.
In the circle of his associates and colleagues, Brown was known as a rather tough and uncompromising person. Even fellow party members often rewarded him with unflattering epithets - "obsessed with the desire to control everything", "absolutely anti-collective personality", "Stalinist ruthless."
As if in contrast to the smiling and endearing Blair, who turned politics into show business, Brown, stern in face and spirit, came to power with the intention of minimizing "show" and focusing on "business."
Despite the surge in electoral popularity, Brown, having come to power, after much deliberation, refused to hold early parliamentary elections in the fall of 2007 and remained the prime minister who never won the election.
Moreover, Brown's party members made several attempts to challenge his leadership in the party, but each time these efforts turned out to be fruitless, and the Labor leader managed to retain supremacy in the party, although its unity and electoral support continued to suffer.
Brown's achievements
Less than three years of Brown's tenure at the head of the British government was marked by a number of high-profile events, the main of which was the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq and the fight against the global financial crisis.
The withdrawal of thousands of British troops from Iraq and the transfer of security control in the south of the country to the Iraqi authorities was completed in June 2009. Immediately thereafter, a Brown-sanctioned investigation into British involvement in the Iraqi campaign under Sir John Chilcot began. Blair, Brown, and other British politicians and civil servants testified before the Chilcot Committee. The investigation should take stock of its work in 2011.
During Brown's reign, the financial crisis began and peaked. His first call was a liquidity crisis at Northern Rock Mortgage Bank in 2007, forcing the state to nationalize a British bank for the first time in 150 years.
Subsequently, Brown proposed a scheme, later taken up by other countries, for the state to enter the capital of banks suffering financial problems. The United Kingdom, which in 2009 held the presidency of the G20, in many respects laid the foundations for interstate cooperation in the fight against the crisis. Brown presided over the G20 London Summit in April 2009, where the main decisions were made to deal with the crisis and restore growth.
Brown effectively continued mediation efforts in the Northern Irish settlement. With his participation, a compromise was reached between the ruling forces of Ulster on the creation of a local police and justice authorities in 2010.
Also, Brown's three years will be remembered for the attempted attacks in London and Glasgow in the summer of 2007; large-scale natural disasters and epidemics that required emergency measures on the part of the state - floods in 2007 and 2009, snowfalls in the winter of 2009-2010, epidemics of foot-and-mouth disease, "bird" and "swine" flu; the approval of major, often controversial, transport projects - a third runway at London's Heathrow Airport, the Crossrail through London, and a high-speed rail network to link the nation's major cities.
Quarrel with Russia
The stay of the Brown government in power was also marked by the largest deterioration in bilateral relations with Russia in the post-Soviet years.
In July 2007, official London took a number of political and diplomatic measures against Moscow in response to its refusal to extradite businessman Andrei Lugovoi to the UK, whom the British accuse of being involved in the murder of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko.
In particular, the UK Foreign Office declared persona non grata of four employees of the Russian Embassy in London. The UK has also suspended cooperation with Russia on counter-terrorism, visa facilitation and work on an agreement on cultural centers.
On January 1, 2008, the Russian authorities demanded that the regional offices of the British Council be closed due to the lack of a legal framework governing its activities in Russia. As a result of this, the offices of the Council in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg stopped working, the head office in Moscow continues its activities.
For many months, the level of political contacts between the leadership of the two countries has noticeably decreased. Brown never visited Russia while he was prime minister.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came to London for the G20 summit. Medvedev and Brown held several more bilateral meetings within the framework of international summits.
The level of political contacts began to gradually recover only in the last year. Both sides continued to interact on key international issues, but there was no noticeable progress in resolving bilateral disputes.
In November 2009, the head of the Foreign Office, David Miliband, who is now tipped to succeed Brown as leader of the Labor Party, paid a first visit to Moscow in five years.
What was not enough time and energy
Brown failed to complete two important undertakings of his premiership - to completely bring the UK out of recession and to reform the country's political system.
The British economy in the fourth quarter of 2009 showed economic growth for the first time in a year and a half, but its sustainable recovery has not yet taken place. Brown has repeatedly warned of the danger of prematurely ending anti-crisis measures. At the initiative of his government, a law was passed obliging him to halve the budget deficit in four years. However, the British conservatives intend to take a more radical approach to the issue of reducing state support for the economy, and to the issue of fighting the deficit.
During his tenure as prime minister, Brown made a number of attempts to modernize the country's political system - from the introduction of an elected House of Lords to a referendum on electoral reform towards a gradual transition from single-seat to an alternative electoral system that provides more fairness for small parties.
It is now up to a coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats led by David Cameron to deal with these problems, as well as to improve relations with Russia.
Brown himself, having said goodbye to fellow party members, has not yet resigned as a member of parliament, but is already thinking about devoting more time to social and charitable activities, as well as starting to write memoirs.