I never said
which week!
GORDON BROWN
1997-2005
The Gruff Moderniser Who Got Out Whilst The Going Was Good
James Gordon Brown was long tipped for office, but he gained the leadership earlier than expected - it had generally been expected he would have to wait until 1997, or perhaps even as long as the early 2000s.
On the day John Smith died, he was merely Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury - in a case of dead man's shoes, he was moved up to Trade and Industry as his predecessor in both roles, Bryan Gould was to fill Smith's boots.
They of course proved too big, but Brown would not make it three for three as Roy Hattersley returned to the Shadow Treasury in 1990, Gould being demoted to Shadow Leader of the House, and rising star Robin Cook - always, perhaps, doomed to be "Brown's Rival" - getting his job as Brown himself went to Shadow Home, and was replaced by Margaret Beckett, his future deputy.
After the shock of the 1992 general election defeat, despite early efforts to "Draft Roy" there was clearly only going to be one real candidate for the top job, and that was Brown. Token runs were made by both Cook and Gould, but it was always going to be a matter of weighing the votes, as Brown swept both aside to approach 80% at conference, Cook barely managing 15, and Gould, humiliatingly, unable to leave single figures. Labour seemed to be developing a tradition of near-walkovers in leadership elections, many quipped.
But nonetheless, when he took his place on that podium (metaphorically, if not literally, flanked by his ally Mandelson, and his protege Blair), a new era was dawning for the party.
Many have argued almost anyone would have won a landslide over the shattered Tories in 1997, and perhaps they have a point, but Brown's modernising efforts, helped along by Blair, Becket, Straw, Mandelson, and, though neither would ever admit it, Cook to a certain extent, certainly played a role in that legendary 112-seat majority, as that new era reached the country.
Brown has been attacked by many as too timid; by 2000 many were asking if the British government had forgotten how to spend money, and whilst the stopcocks opened to some extent post-2001 it was never to the extent the left desired - and whilst some have tried to blame Brown's series of Chancellors, he, despite never having actually occupied that role either as Shadow or in government, he saw Number 11 as very much his domain, perhaps taking his title as First Lord of the Treasury more seriously than any since Arthur Balfour. The tuition fees "betrayal" also remains raw amongst many who were not there to remember it at the time.
Nonetheless, he is seen by many as having done well on the domestic front, with popular initiatives such as Sure Start, the 10p tax rate, and the minimum wage. On the Foreign front, he initially benefited from his close relationship with Blair, as they successfully brought about interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone, and also worked closely together to secure peace in Northern Ireland. However, this would sour somewhat in the second term; Blair's strong support for the ecu, coupled with repeated attempts to persuade Gore to invade Iraq as well as Afghanistan, opening a rift, plus a desire by Brown for his intended successor to have more domestic experience, led to him being reshuffled to the Home Office in 2002, to be replaced by Peter Mandelson.
Few were surprised when Brown announced his forthcoming retirement in late 2004 - it had been expected a year previous (later allegations about his protege's health at the time may explain this). Once again, it was a near-walkover, and Brown left office in March 2004 with a united, popular party of government to hand over to his dynamic successor, as a man loved by few, but respected by near all.
His reputation has taken a slight knock since, and the left still occasionally mumble complaints, but by and large, that remains the legacy of the man who crushed both John Major and Michael Howard at both dispatch box and ballot box.
