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After Blair tendered his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II, Brown was invited by the Queen to form a government and become Prime Minister. After accepting the Queen's invitation to form a government, Brown and his wife Sarah Brown were driven from Buckingham Palace to Downing Street.
His premiership has been viewed less favourably; although public opinion of Brown has improved since he left office, his premiership has been viewed as average in historical rankings and public opinion of British prime ministers.
Gordon Brown's term as the prime minister of the United Kingdom began on 27 June 2007 when he accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding Tony Blair, and ended on 11 May 2010 upon his resignation.
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Labour 2007 to 2010
As Prime Minister, Gordon Brown oversaw the devolution of powers in Northern Ireland, the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and the world's first ever Climate Change Act.
20 February 1951, Giffnock, Glasgow, Scotland
Climate Change Act 2008: to set a target for the year 2050 for the reduction of targeted greenhouse gas emissions. Counter-Terrorism Act 2008: to confer further powers to gather and share information for counter-terrorism and other purposes.
Britain’s longest-serving modern Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was appointed Chancellor in May 1997, when Tony Blair became Prime Minister, through to June 2007 when he started as Prime Minister himself.
Gordon Brown was born in Scotland and grew up in the industrial town of Kirkcaldy. He started at Edinburgh University aged 16, becoming the youngest fresher there since the war.
It was at university that he began to have problems with his sight and doctors diagnosed him with a detached retina, which was caused by an injury he received in his final game for his school rugby team. He gained a First Class honours degree in History and became the youngest ever Rector of Edinburgh University in 1972.
Gordon Brown became MP for Dunfermline East in the 1983 General Election with a majority of 11,000 and shared his first office in the House of Commons with Tony Blair, where they became friends. Later he became Shadow Chancellor and backed Tony Blair for the leadership of the Labour Party. Working together they won a landslide majority in 1997.
He was Chancellor of the Exchequer during the longest ever period of economic growth. He also made the Bank of England independent and announced, at the Gleneagles Summit in 2005, an agreement to support the world’s poorest countries and deal with climate change. His passion for global justice was shown in his negotiation to cancel the debts of the world’s poorest nations and the tripling of the development budget.
It was during his time as Chancellor that he proposed to Sarah Macaulay and 7 months later they were married at their home in North Queensferry.
Gordon Brown became Prime Minister on 27 June 2007 after Tony Blair left office. During his time as Prime Minister he oversaw changes such as the introduction of neighbourhood policing in every area, a legally-enforceable right to early cancer screening and treatment, and the world’s first ever Climate Change Act, which was implemented in autumn 2008.
May 11, 2010 · STORY HIGHLIGHTS. After three years as UK PM Gordon Brown to resign as Labour party leader. Brown's premiership one of the shortest for almost half a century. Premiership went downhill...
May 11, 2010 · Gordon Brown had wanted to be prime minister for years. His ambition had burned so brightly that it tarnished his relationship with his rival Tony Blair. He and his team had manoeuvred and...
Dec 1, 2014 · @BBCJLandale. To his opponents, Gordon Brown was one of the worst prime ministers of the post-war era, a man whose ambition outpaced his ability. To his supporters, he was a giant of his age, a...
