GORDON Brown is a former Labour Prime Minister of the UK between 2007 and 2010. Brown has taken up a number of roles in charity and the private sector since leaving No 10 and frequently appears on the news to provide commentary on big-hitting issues like education and Climate Change. How old is Gordon Brown? […]
GORDON Brown is a former Labour Prime Minister of the UK between 2007 and 2010.
Brown has taken up a number of roles in charity and the private sector since leaving No 10 and frequently appears on the news to provide commentary on big-hitting issues like education and Climate Change.
Brown was born on February 20, 1951, in Giffnock, Scotland, making him 70 years old.
He grew up in Kirkcaldy, an industrial centre famed for its linoleum and mining sector.
One of three sons to Rev Dr John Ebenezer Brown and his wife Elizabeth, Brown was reguarly encouraged by his parents to help local families affected by unemployment.
He was put on a fast-track programme through Kirkcaldy High School and accepted to study history at the University of Edinburgh aged 16.
Just before going to university, he injured his eyes playing for his school rugby team, which resulted in detached retinas in both eyes and spent much of his university days in hospital or recovering.
He was elected to Parliament as a Labour MP for Dunfermline East in the 1983 General Elections and slowly worked his way up the ranks as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry then eventually Shadow Chancellor.
In May 1994, he chose not to contest the Labour leadership after Tony Blair became the favourite, kick-starting a long political partnership that saw Brown become Chancellor following the 1997 general election and Prime Minister ten years later.
Brown is typically seen in news appearances speaking from a location in Fife, Scotland.
He married his wife Sarah Macaulay in a private ceremony at his Fife home in North Queensferry in August 2000.
The two have two sons had a daughter, Jennifer Jane, who sadly passed away on January 7, 2002, after she suffered a brain haemorrhage.
Brown has worked in a number of roles since leaving Parliament in 2015.
In July 2012, he was named by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as a United Nations Special Envoy on Global Education.
In this role, he chaired the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity.
In 2014, he played a prominent role in the campaign to remain in the Union of the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish referendum on independence.
He also regularly provides commentary on issues of the day, in particular, on education, poverty, and Climate Change.
On September 20, 2021, Brown was appointed as the Ambassador for Global Health Financing by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The former Labour leader has often called on wealthy nation as well as the private sector to ensure a fair distribution of Covid-19 vaccines around the world.
Responding to his latest appointment, Brown said: “I am delighted to be able to help his and WHO’s work raising global finance to ensure everyone has access to health.
“Our immediate task is to work together to finance the vaccination of the whole world and protect the poorest countries from the terrible effects of COVID-19 and other diseases.”
