My Life, Our Times

by Gordon Brown

  I came into politics with a conviction reinforced again and again across the years: to lead is to champion a hopeful vision of the kind of country most of us believe in. Ideally, perhaps, the top job would be best delivered by someone with a range of qualities from the analytic to the interpersonal, preferably at the highest level. I have found that in politics no one person can offer all the qualities, all the time or even some of it, that modern leadership requires – the problem-solving skills associated with the engineer, the spirit of enquiry of the scientist, the mastery of fine detail of the mathematician, the command of substance of the teacher, the ability to communicate of the writer, all preferably combined with the compassion of the finest examples of the caring professions, and the patience of a saint too. And whether someone like that could rise to lead a major political party is another question. But while most leaders can survive without some of these gifts, they are totally lost without a sense of the bigger picture – a clear vision of what you want to achieve matched by the willpower to look beyond the preoccupations of the day and never lose sight of your goals.

  Leadership, I have also observed in these pages, can flourish only with effective teamwork, and it requires a talent for being ahead of events, though not too far ahead.

  Making people feel part of a common mission was exactly what Field Marshal Montgomery did addressing his troops the night before battle. Having asked them what was the most important thing as they prepared for combat, he heard answers like ‘air support’, ‘the quality of our tanks’ and ‘the sophistication of our weapons’. He begged to disagree. He told them ‘the most important thing you have is you’ – in other words, the strength and unity they had built together, the sense they had that together they were part of a bigger mission.

  At the Treasury I brought together a team of civil servants and advisers who grew in government and learned together. As prime minister, I found that after the great collective efforts to surmount the initial crises of my first months in No. 10 – from the terrorist attack to foot and mouth and Northern Rock – engendering the same kind of team spirit we had in the Treasury was more difficult. In part, it was because after ten years in power Labour was running out of steam. In part, it was the modern nature of prime-ministerial politics, having to handle a multiplicity of crises in a twenty-four-hour cycle. In part, it was the difficulties in creating the right balance between ministers, officials and advisers, which meant I found myself with too little time to focus on longer-term strategic issues where I think I had most to offer and where my input might have made more of a difference. I did not fully resolve this until preparing for the G20 in the wake of the financial crisis. Then, an already highly talented group of people rose to the occasion with tireless commitment and dedication built around a shared sense of purpose.

  I wrote in the Introduction about the importance of turning points – and of course, no leader will foresee every high noon. But despite the turning points I missed, I believe it is fair to say I spotted and took in hand one or two. In 2002, I thought the time was right after careful preparation to persuade people to pay more in tax to renew the NHS. In 2003, I thought the time was wrong to join the euro, and despite my colleagues’ initial enthusiasm for the common currency, I was able to convince them how difficult it would be for Britain. It is, however, no comfort to me as we deal with the impact of Scottish, Welsh and English nationalism that I feel ahead of my time in warning that we have to find a shared sense of purpose for a United Kingdom that otherwise would be united in name only.

  I am often asked what we can learn from Britain’s most famous political leader, Winston Churchill. If Barack Obama wrote of the audacity of hope, Winston Churchill taught us the necessity of hope. He is remembered precisely because he, more than anyone else, understood the importance in our country’s darkest moment of conveying a message of hope. Indeed, I suspect that when Churchill famously rejected the portrait of him at eighty years old by the artist Graham Sutherland, it was precisely because he saw himself depicted as old, austere and withdrawn – and not the inspirational figure of hope he knew a leader had to be. No leader, now or in the future, can afford to ignore that lesson of history.

  I write of lesser tests, smaller peacetime tests, but in the biggest test that I faced – the gravest financial crisis of our lifetimes – our country desperately needed a message of hope.

  While I did not predict the recession that exploded out of America and infected the world, I did immediately grasp the need to act with unprecedented speed and our government was the first to push for cooperation among all the leading economies: first to avert a Great Depression, and second, to deliver far-reaching reforms of the financial sector to prevent a future collapse. The former succeeded, but not the latter. Unlike the leaders whom I most admire, I fell short in communicating my ideas. I failed to rally the nation. We won the battle – to escape recession – but we lost the war – to build something better. Banking should have been transformed, our international institutions refashioned, inequality radically reversed – and if we are to be properly equipped to face the next crisis this is still the agenda we must pursue. It saddens me that our economy succumbed to a lost decade of austerity, division, protectionism and now isolation.

  Through thirteen years in office, we did, as I have recounted, take big decisions in other areas that reshaped our own economy and society, and I believe these decisions will stand the test of time and changing political tides. I look back with pride on path-breaking reforms which could never have happened without a Labour government – Britain’s first legal national minimum wage, tax credits to tackle child and pensioner poverty, repairing a nearly broken NHS, Sure Start to give the youngest children better chances, international debt relief and the trebling of aid for schools and hospitals in the poorest countries.

  The mission I felt – and feel – most strongly about is championing the cause of children, not just in Britain but also in the most difficult and most desolate places in the world. Since my schooldays, I had dreamed of what I could contribute in any way, however small, to creating a world free of poverty. When in 1980 Edward Kennedy famously spoke of ‘the dream [that] shall never die’, he was challenging millions like me. And for me, the dream does not fade. It is as real today as ever it was, part of who I am, what I have become and what continues to drive me on.

  I am forever awestruck by the men and women of goodwill in charities, philanthropy and non-governmental organisations who do so much for so many every day. I have explained in an earlier chapter why I believe that encouraging and energising what is best in our moral sense is an indispensable element of good leadership.

  I remain convinced that no matter what men and women of compassion accomplish through individual efforts, those who dismiss the power of collective action – nationally or internationally – are seriously mistaken. The advancements that bend the arc of history come from steps that are never taken alone.

  Indeed, most people I know who undertake public service say they do so because they want to ‘make a difference’. Their dedication and daily achievement – at times against the odds – and their self-sacrifice, confound the reactionary and self-serving myth that the best government is the one that does the least. In fact, the only governments that really count are those with a cause.

  I often tell the story of David, the eleven-year-old football-loving boy who wanted to be a doctor and loved making people laugh – and whose short life is memoralised in the children’s room of the Rwanda Museum. He was brutally murdered in the genocide of 1994 and his death was all the more tragic because he died just after telling his mother, who died alongside him, that the United Nations was coming to save them. In his idealism, that young boy believed that political leaders can act to save and lift up lives.

  When politics fails, people go hungry and suffer. They cannot triumph over disease, are left without the light of learning, and they lose hope. But when politics succeeds, people live and are more secure; the young are ed
ucated; the sick are cared for; and people are empowered to make the most of their talents. And politics can offer not just words of hope but the resources to make that hope real – to help bridge the gap between what millions of people are and what they have it in themselves to become.

  Often change is slow, sporadic and undramatic. But sometimes an idea can change the world and the impact can be as dramatic as a train that starts slowly, suddenly and unmistakably picks up speed, then roars ahead and becomes unstoppable.

  I do not miss the trappings of office, but there is a frustration. It can literally take years to do what you might have been able to accomplish in a few minutes as prime minister or as chancellor. Not to say even that is easy. In politics, you must decide and then you have to persuade – and you have to overcome the political tendency to think too much of the short term. Through thick and thin, amid the clamour of the days, you have to stay true to the dream. That I hope I did most of the time.

  1. Aged around four with my mother and big brother John.

  2. Wearing my Kirkcaldy High School rugby shirt before the game where I got injured, resulting some time later in the loss of sight in my left eye.

  3. My father holding the book of his sermons that my brothers John and Andrew and I had published for his 80th birthday.

  4. As a young MP with my friend (and former boss) Labour leader Neil Kinnock at a 1989 press conference.

  5. With three great figures of Labour politics (left to right) Robin Cook, Donald Dewar and John Smith in the 1992 general election campaign with Stirling candidate Catherine Phillips. This seat was won from the Tories in 1997 by Anne McGuire.

  6. On Budget Day 1997 with the new Budget Box and the Rosyth apprentices who had made it for me.

  7. At work on a budget speech in the Treasury with Beth Russell, Ed Balls and Ed Miliband and US political advisor and strategist Bob Shrum.

  8. Filming the 2001 general election party political broadcast with Tony Blair.

  9. My wedding to Sarah at home in North Queensferry on 3 August 2000.

  10. Staff Christmas party in the No. 11 flat sometime after entering government.

  Back Row (left to right): Ian Austin MP, Spencer Livermore (now Lord Livermore), Sue Nye (now Baroness Nye of Lambeth), me, Carole Bird, Anita Ralli, Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP, Shriti Vadera (obscured), Cathy Koester. Front Row: Jonathan Ashworth MP, Ed Balls (in the Santa suit), Nicola Murphy, Damian McBride, Matt Cavanagh.

  11. In the No. 10 flat with Sue Nye, the budget box and my son John, then two, in 2006.

  12. With football icon and lifelong Labour Party supporter Sir Alex Ferguson at a Co-op event.

  13. With the ‘real’ Santa Claus, actor and director Richard Attenborough (Lord Attenborough) at a No. 11 children’s charity Christmas party.

  14. With Senator Ted Kennedy at the Kennedy compound on holiday in Hyannis Port, Cape Cod, in 2000.

  15. With Afghanistan’s President Karzai meeting British and Afghan troops at Kandahar Airbase.

  16. Enjoying the British wins at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with footballing legend Pelé.

  17. Our official joint photograph taken by Tom Miller, who also took my picture that hangs on the No. 10 staircase today.

  18. In the No. 10 Cabinet Room with John and Fraser in 2008.

  19. The official Leaders photograph taken at the G20 London Summit for Stability, Growth and Jobs in 2009.

  20. In South Africa with Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel.

  21. A photograph with HM Queen Elizabeth II taken at Buckingham Palace at the time of the G20 London Summit, April 2009.

  22. In discussion with 44th US President Barack Obama at the London G20.

  23. Talking to Nancy Pelosi, then Leader of the House of Representatives.

  24. Delivering a speech to a joint meeting of both houses of the United States Congress, February 2009.

  25. The Chequers staff including Head Chef Alan Lavender (far left), who had served four consecutive prime ministers, on the occasion of Lady Thatcher’s visit.

  26. My speech after the 2010 election outside 10 Downing Street on 7 May - taken by Sarah from the No. 11 flat.

  27. Leaving as a family - our official moment of departure from Downing Street after thirteen years.

  28. Final words inside Downing Street before departing for the last time, 11 May 2010. Left to right: Sarah, John, me, Fraser, Justin Forsyth, Douglas Alexander, Joe Irvin, Ed Miliband, Ed Balls, Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell, Leeanne Johnston, Gavin Kelly, Kirsty McNeill.

  29. Back home in Fife with Sarah by the famous Forth Bridge after leaving government.

  30. The eve-of-poll speech (one of around 200 delivered during the Scottish referendum campaign) given at Maryhill, Glasgow. Eddie Izzard looks on.

  31. In front of Coventry Cathedral about to make a People’s IN campaign film ahead of the European Referendum. It attracted more than 5.5 million views on Facebook.

  32. As the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education with former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UNESCO Director Irina Bokova visiting East Timor in 2012.

  33. Joining Sarah and Education Commission Director Justin van Fleet and young campaigner Alberto Verrilli on the Avaaz climate change march in New York City, in September 2015.

  34. On stage with pop superstar Shakira and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at a G20 2017 concert in Hamburg to speak up together for a new education financing vehicle.

  35. The first meeting of the Commission for Financing Global Education Opportunity. Left to right: Aliko Dangote, Justin van Fleet, Amel Karboul, Yuriko Koike, Jakaya Kikwete, Kristin Clemet, Lubna Khalid Al Qasimi, Tarald Brautaset, José Manuel Barroso, Felipe Calderón, me, Strive Masiyiwa, Jack Ma, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Baela Jamil, Teopista Birungi Mayanja, Julia Gillard, Theo Sowa, Ju-Ho Lee, Patricio Meller, Anant Agarwal, Tony Lake, Liesbet Steer.

  36. With Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talking about education financing at the World Economic Forum, Davos.

  37. With former president of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete, African lead on the Education Commission.

  38. With France’s President Emmanuel Macron.

  39. Campaigning for global education, global security and global growth with UN Secretary General António Guterres.

  PICTURE CREDITS

  1. Brown family archive

  2. Courtesy of Kirkcaldy High School

  3. Brown family archive

  4. PA Images

  5. PA Images

  6. PA Images

  7. © Bob Shrum

  8. © Mark Lucas

  9. © Adam Pensotti

  10. © Sarah Macaulay

  11. © Sarah Brown

  12. PA Images

  13. © Mark Lucas/Silverfish

  14. © Sarah Brown

  15. Getty Images/Matt Cardy/Stringer

  16. © Sarah Brown

  17. © Tom Miller

  18. © Sarah Brown

  19. Getty Images/ERIC FEFERBERG/Staff

  20. Brown family archive

  21. Reuters/Daniel Hambury/Crown Copyright

  22. Getty images/DOMINIQUE FAGET/Staff

  23. Courtesy of US House of Representatives

  24. Courtesy of US House of Representatives

  25. © Sarah Brown

  26. © Sarah Brown

  27. © Ben Stanstall/AFP

  28. © Konrad Caulkett

  29. © George McCluskie

  30. © Daily Record

  31. © Mark Lucas

  32. © UNESCO

  33. © Sarah Brown

  34. © Jessica Bryant

  35. © Vianney Le Caer

  36. © Justin van Fleet

  37. © Jessica Bryant

  38. Courtesy of Bertrand Badré

  39. Getty Images/KHALIL MAZRAAWI/Stringer

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Writing about things past, and especially about one’s own life, did not come easily to me, and the reader may have noticed how much I have tried to infuse my reflec
tions on the past with thoughts about the future.

  While in the nineteenth century most interactions were by letter and thus recorded, in the twentieth century most of the important conversations were by telephone with little recording of them. I was the first prime minister to use emails regularly, and this – and, of course, access to Cabinet and Treasury papers – has allowed me to chart my day-to-day interactions with my staff, my colleagues and world leaders.

  And so, for his endless enthusiasm for retrieving, analysing and checking information and sources, I am grateful to Ross Christie, who headed the research effort and whose encyclopedic knowledge of just about every relevant place and event has informed my writing greatly to its benefit.