Gordon Brown

by Tom Bower

The gripping inside story of the complex and ambitious Chancellor of the Exchequer's time in power.Gordon Brown's arrival at the Treasury in May 1997 was greeted by a stampede--officials of every rank spontaneously rushed to the door to cheer the new incumbent, excited about the change. As Master of the New Era, Brown created a matrix of relationships across every Whitehall department, and extended his influence to every aspect of government activity. He has been behind the most important budgetary decisions of the past decade: the commitment to Private Finance Initiative, which would affect infrastructure from the London Underground to the NHS to state schools; the management of the Inland Revenue; the increase in taxes; and the demise of Britain's pension funds.Seven years after his arrival at the most powerful department at Whitehall, Brown is now a contender to be the next leader of the Labour Party.

Genres: Politics, Biography, History, Nonfiction, British Literature

512 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2004

About the author

For the author of works on child development, see T.G.R. Bower

Tom Bower (born 28 September 1946) is a British writer, noted for his investigative journalism and for his unauthorized biographies.

A former Panorama reporter, his books include unauthorised biographies of Tiny Rowland, Robert Maxwell, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Geoffrey Robinson, Gordon Brown and Richard Branson.

He won the 2003 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for Broken Dreams, an investigation into corruption in English football. His joint biography of Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge was published in November 2006, and an unsuccessful libel case over a passing mention of Daily Express proprietor Richard Desmond in the book was heard in July 2009.

An unauthorised biography by Bower of Richard Desmond, provisionally entitled Rough Trader, awaits publication. Bowers's biography of Simon Cowell, written with Cowell's co-operation, was published on 20 April, 2012.

Bower is married to Veronica Wadley, former editor of the London Evening Standard, and has four children.

Reviews

[Nick Lincoln · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in 2004, before the "banking" crisis and all that jazz. Which makes Bower's book all the more perceptive. Putting aside the the man's unpleasantness (the bullying, the moods, the endless plotting against those who crossed him) which Bower documents in depth, what comes across is Brown's staggering ineptitude.

Bower lists disaster after disaster, the cumulative effect of which only came to light after the credit crunch (and the publication of this book). By then there was no money in the Government coffers: nothing had been put aside in the "good years". Brown is a die-hard tax and spend socialist, someone who really believes it's possible to tinker around the edges of the economy with endless tax credits, tax reliefs, vanity projects (Individual Learning Accounts anyone?) and make a difference.

Immediately in office Brown destroyed the regulatory regime, setting the scene for a lending boom on which he depended, as people swapped equity from their properties for lifestyle and were thus - for a while - insulated from the various tax hikes the man introduced. HMRC has never recovered from having to introduce and administer various tax-credit schemes, some seemingly pulled as soon as they were introduced. Treasury officials, with years of experience, were ignored or shunted aside. The NHS received unbelievable sums of our money (taxes) and showed a criminal return on the "investment", thanks to Brown's belief in centralised planning.

Bower keeps the reader engaged through this catalogue of disasters. If at times it's a hard slog it's because the subject matter is so relentlessly depressing; at times one has to wonder how Brown and Blair had time to "run" the country, so involved are they both in hatchet jobs and briefing against one another. The more financially intricate of Brown's disasters (Network Rail re-nationalisation, PFI etc) are written about with as much clarity as is possible for the layman (me).

A disastrous little man. It's hard to find anything redeeming about Gordon Brown. This book nailed him in 2004; a near decade on and his legacy haunts us all.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worth while read, even if a bit out of date, but a bit slow to get going. It really makes you question whether Gordon Brown did anything worthwhile apart from make the Bank of England independent. It also calls into question Brown's reputation as a heavy weight policy man and for competence. The book weaves a compelling narrative to suggest that Brown wasn't interested in detail, governing or finding the right solution but in beating his opponents, publicising himself and becoming Prime Minister at any cost.

As far as I can see the author doesn't have any particular axe to grind which makes this book all the more worthwhile to read, rather those where the subject can rely on their version of events to be portrayed.

Brown is undoubtedly one of the most important members of the previous Government and deserves to have his record examined, I would recommend anyone to read this and make up their own minds.

[Eugene · Rating 2 out of 5]

That Tom Bower really wants to do a hatchet job on Brown, and really thinks that the state can never intevene successfully in anything. Hmm. Healthcare free at the point of need seems to be working very well for the last fifty years...? Interesting to read but Bower always undermines his arguments by being too randomly and evenly aggressive. Scattergun, I believe they call it.

[Will James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic assessment of the very flawed character of the man who sits inside No. 10 and who spent a decade as Britain's Chancellor. I'd love to read the updated version of Bower's book, since Brown became PM.