Interesting facts

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.

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.

Born in Scotland, Gordon Brown grew up in the industrial town of Kirkcaldy. He began Edinburgh University at 16.

Mr Brown became MP for Dunfermline East in the 1983 General Election with a majority of 11,000 and shared (разделил) his first office in the House of Commons with Tony Blair, where the two became friends. Mr Brown later became Shadow Chancellor and backed (поддерживал)Tony Blair for the leadership of the Labour Party. Working together they won a landslide (внушительная победа) majority in 1997.

As Chancellor of the Exchequer ( финансы), Gordon Brown presided over the longest ever period of growth. He also made the Bank of England independent and delivered (избавлять, доставлять) an agreement (соглашение) at the Gleneagles Summit in 2005 to support the world’s poorest countries and climate change.

It was during his time as Chancellor that Mr Brown proposed to Sarah Macaulay and seven months later they were married at their home in North Queensferry.

Mr Brown became Prime Minister on the 27th of June 2007 after Tony Blair left office. During his time as Prime Minister he oversaw changes such as the introduction of neighbourhood policing (Введение окрестности полицейских) in every area, a legally-enforceable right to early cancer screening and treatment (юридически закрепленное право осуществить раннее выявление и лечение рака,), and the world’s first ever Climate Change Act, which came into force in autumn 2008.

The greatest challenge Mr Brown faced in office was the worldwide financial crisis and the subsequent (последующее) recession(спад).

UK combat operations in Iraq, which had begun during his predecessor’s (предшественника)time in office, came to an end under Mr Brown. British forces withdrew from the country at the end of April 2009. Mr Brown regularly visited Iraq and Afghanistan and in December 2009, he became the first Prime Minister for some considerable (значительное) time to stay in a war zone when he stayed overnight in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

During his time in office, Mr Brown worked with his Irish counterpart (коллега) Brian Cowen to negotiate the devolution of policing and justice powers in Northern Ireland. An agreement was finally reached in February 2010 and the powers were passed to Northern Ireland’s government in April.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14