UK: Brown becomes PM, names cabinet - full page
Searching more than 75 years of world history
In the days after the transfer, the country was rocked by a series of attempted terror attacks, making it clear that security remained an extremely important concern for Brown. Sources indicated that public pressure for an exit from the war in Iraq would be strong.
In his acceptance speech on June 24, Brown said that his main goal was to pursue responsible economic policies, stating: “For 10 years I’ve tried to deliver a stable economy, and that will always be a starting point.”
Brown stated his priorities would include: education and vocational training; increasing the UK’s ability to compete with big exporters like China and outsourcing destinations like India; reforming the National Health Service (NHS); providing affordable housing and safe communities; and restoring “trust in our democracy”.
Immediate context
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair had announced his resignation on May 10 and Gordon Brown succeeded unopposed to the leadership of the party and the post of prime minister. Brown and Blair, who were often portrayed by the media as long-time rivals for the leadership, had at times taken opposite sides on matters within the ruling Labour Party but nevertheless had worked closely together at their respective posts for 10 years. Brown had been the UK’s longest-serving chancellor in modern times and the question of when Blair would step down to enable Brown to become prime minister had become an increasing source of factional tensions within the Labour Party.As prime minister, Brown would be forced to maintain a focus on security, an issue underscored by the detection and disarming of two car bombs near London’s Piccadilly Circus on the morning of June 29. The new home secretary, Jacqui Smith, called an emergency meeting of senior officials. “We are currently facing the most serious and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism,” Smith was reported as saying by the newswire AFX News Ltd on June 29. The very next day an attempt was made to drive a similar car bomb into the passenger waiting area of Glasgow International Airport.
Another key policy area for Brown was likely to be EU integration, with a possible government retreat from the controversial EU reform package signed by the UK on June 22. In one of his last acts as Prime Minister, Blair signed the agreement despite the claims of opponents that it contained many of the same features as the EU constitution it had been designed to replace and which had been rejected by the electorates of France and the Netherlands in 2005.
As Prime Minister, Brown also faced the challenge of an overburdened NHS and pressure to improve both public pension provision and protection for pensioners with savings in private schemes who risked losing their pensions if their investment schemes went bankrupt.
Reaction and outlook
Perhaps in a bid to prepare for a change in policy and a quicker withdrawal from the war in Iraq, Prime Minister Brown on June 28 appointed to the cabinet several ministers who had been critical of the UK’s participation with the USA in the invasion of Iraq.David Miliband who at times criticised Blair's Middle East policy, was named foreign secretary. Miliband at 41 was the youngest UK foreign secretary in three decades. His appointment was expected to help Brown to distance his government from Blair’s decision to join the war in 2003, the Financial Times reported on June 29.
Jack Straw was named Justice Minister, a post he prepared for by spending four years as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001. He also was Foreign Secretary from 2001 until May 2006, and had served as Leader of the House of Commons (the lower house of the bicameral legislature) since then. He immediately had to answer questions about the proposed early release of thousands of prisoners as part of a plan to relieve overcrowding of prisons, The Times reported on June 28.
Blair had faced much criticism that he had been US President George W. Bush’s “puppet” during the Iraq war. Blair’s appointment as a negotiator for Middle East peace brought widespread scorn from the Arab world, including in the June 29 Gulf Daily News and Al-Hayat newspapers, which questioned Blair’s ability to negotiate successfully. However, Blair had claimed much credit for his role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and for the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.
Historical context
The UK had a multiparty system, which was currently dominated by the leftist Labour Party (355 seats in the House of Commons) and the rightist Conservative Party (198 seats). The centrist Liberal Democrats (63 seats) were the largest of the minor parties, with regional parties, such as the Scottish National Party (SNP), the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Sinn Féin, and Plaid Cymru having considerable local influence. After World War II, Labour was in power during 1945-51, 1964-70, 1974-79, and since 1997; the Conservatives held office during 1951-64, 1970-74, and 1979-97.One of Labour’s hardest trials was the Thatcher era (1979-90), which saw confrontation with unions and an end to automatic union contributions to the Labour Party.
Tony Blair's efforts to change the Labour Party to "new Labour" were a response to the perceived unelectability of the party during the Thatcher era. Sometime after May 1994, a deal was rumoured to have been struck between Brown and Blair, in which Brown would get control over economic policy in return for not competing against Blair for leadership of the party. Labour's landslide success in 1997 was widely seen as due to a combination of dissatisfaction with “sleaze” in the Conservative Party and belief that Blair had fundamentally altered the Labour Party's policies and approach.
Brown became chancellor in 1997 and immediately made his mark by giving the Bank of England independence over interest rates.
His first budget included a new tax on utilities, but lowered tax rates on other businesses.
Initially, Brown’s economic policy was one of fiscal control, alienating some Labour members in Parliament, but in the build-up to the 2001 elections, he loosened spending.
His policies also were instrumental in keeping the UK out of European Monetary Union. In 2002, Brown presented a budget with higher taxes to pay for health spending increases. The government projected that health spending would increase 43 per cent in the next five years.
- Click here to browse the timeline (free)
- Click here to subscribe to Keesing's online, for unlimited access to our full archive and research features
