Gordon Brown
Otherwise known as the Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Gordon Brown is the UK's prime minister, having succeeded Tony Blair and stepped up from position of Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as one of the architects of the "New Labour" project.
While he was of Britain's longest-serving Chancellors, Brown developed a reputation for financial prudence within the Treasury, although he is seen in some circles as slightly brusque - less of a man of the people than Tony Blair. This image has been somewhat softened of late with the arrival of he and his wife Sarah's two young children, James and John.
One issue that Gordon Brown has often returned to in speeches is that of global development, concentrating especially on eradicating world poverty - an topic that has seen him working alongside such campaigners as Bob Geldof and Bono of U2 - and he was a central figure in recent efforts to write off Third-World debt.
In recent years, ever since Tony Blair announced he would step down before the next election in fact, much of the press coverage relating to Brown focussed around his expected accession to the position of Prime Minister. Much has been made of the supposedly strained relationship between Blair and Brown but after much speculation to the contrary, Brown took up the job without the need for a leadership contest.
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