Editing Gordon Brown (section)

==Early life==
{{Gordon Brown sidebar}}
James Gordon Brown was born at the Orchard Maternity Nursing Home in [[Giffnock]], [[Renfrewshire (historic)|Renfrewshire]], Scotland.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Routledge |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Routledge |date=19 January 1998 |title=I could still be prime minister, says Brown |work=The Independent |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/i-could-still-be-prime-minister-says-brown-1137937.html |access-date=12 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303162751/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/i-could-still-be-prime-minister-says-brown-1137937.html |archive-date=3 March 2009}}</ref><ref>Birth certificate of James Gordon Brown, 20 February 1951, Newton Mearns District, Renfrewshire 571/02 0053&nbsp;– General Register Office for Scotland</ref> His father was John Ebenezer Brown (1914–1998), a [[minister of the Church of Scotland]] and a strong influence on Brown.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 April 2004 |title=Chancellor's daughter remembered at christening service |work=The Scotsman |location=Edinburgh |url=http://news.scotsman.com/gordonbrownsfamily/Chancellors-daughter-remembered-at-christening.2522714.jp |access-date=23 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109125644/http://news.scotsman.com/gordonbrownsfamily/Chancellors-daughter-remembered-at-christening.2522714.jp |archive-date=9 January 2009}}</ref> His mother was Jessie Elizabeth "Bunty" Brown (''née'' Souter; 1918–2004);<ref name="mother">{{Cite news |date=20 September 2004 |title=Brown mourns loss of mother |work=The Scotsman |location=Edinburgh |url=http://news.scotsman.com/gordonbrownsfamily/Brown-mourns-loss-of-mother.2565552.jp |access-date=23 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111084127/http://news.scotsman.com/gordonbrownsfamily/Brown-mourns-loss-of-mother.2565552.jp |archive-date=11 January 2009}}</ref> she was the daughter of John Souter, a timber merchant.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barratt |first=Nick |date=28 April 2007 |title=Family detective |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2007/04/28/nosplit/ftfamdet128.xml |url-status=dead |access-date=2 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206071345/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fportal%2F2007%2F04%2F28%2Fnosplit%2Fftfamdet128.xml |archive-date=6 December 2008}}</ref> The family moved to [[Kirkcaldy]] – then the largest town in [[Fife]], across the [[Firth of Forth]] from [[Edinburgh]]<ref name="aaa">{{Cite news |date=14 July 2007 |title=From a Scottish manse to Number 10 |work=[[The Washington Times]] |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/jun/17/from-a-scottish-manse-to-number-10/ |access-date=23 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211191347/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/jun/17/from-a-scottish-manse-to-number-10/ |archive-date=11 February 2011}}</ref> – when Gordon was three.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gordon Brown&nbsp;– Biography on Bio. |url=http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/gordon-brown.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111024230749/http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/gordon-brown.html |archive-date=24 October 2011 |publisher=thebiographychannel.co.uk}}</ref> Brown was brought up there with his elder brother John and younger brother [[Andrew Brown (media strategist)|Andrew]]<ref name=mother/> in a [[manse]]; he is therefore often referred to as a "son of the manse", an idiomatic Scottish phrase, similar to the American phrase "[[preacher's kid]]".<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 June 2007 |title=The making of Gordon Brown |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1554039/The-making-of-Gordon-Brown.html |access-date=27 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227085116/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1554039/The-making-of-Gordon-Brown.html |archive-date=27 February 2009 |quote=The next prime minister is always referred to as a 'son of the manse'}}</ref>

===Education===
Brown was educated first at Kirkcaldy West Primary School, where he was selected for an experimental [[Tracking (education)|fast stream]] education programme, which took him two years early to [[Kirkcaldy High School]] for an academic [[Hothousing|hothouse education]] taught in separate classes.<ref>{{Cite news |last=MacIntyre |first=Donald |date=23 September 2000 |title=Chancellor on the ropes; Profile: Gordon Brown |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/chancellor-on-the-ropes-701085.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=21 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123180655/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/chancellor-on-the-ropes-701085.html |archive-date=23 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/education/schools/3758377/gordon-brown-kirkcaldy-high-school-comprehensive-liz-truss/|title=The truth about Gordon Brown and Kirkcaldy High School after Liz Truss's claim in Tory speech|first=Laura|last=Devlin|date=5 October 2022}}</ref> Aged 16, he wrote that he loathed and resented this "ludicrous" experiment on young lives.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ben Macintyre |date=19 May 2007 |title='Cruel' experiment that left its mark on a very precocious boy |work=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/scotland-travel/cruel-experiment-that-left-its-mark-on-a-very-precocious-boy-733swrhksq3 |access-date=21 July 2023 |archive-date=21 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721111120/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cruel-experiment-that-left-its-mark-on-a-very-precocious-boy-733swrhksq3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

He was accepted by the [[University of Edinburgh]] to study history at the same early age of 16. During an end-of-term [[rugby union]] match at his old school, he received a kick to the head and experienced a [[retinal detachment]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gaby Hinsliff |date=10 October 2009 |title=How Gordon Brown's loss of an eye informs his view of the world |work=[[The Observer]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/oct/11/gordon-brown-eye-check-questions |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228234013/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/oct/11/gordon-brown-eye-check-questions |archive-date=28 December 2013}}</ref> This left him [[Blindness|blind]] in his left eye, despite treatment including several operations and weeks spent lying in a darkened room. Later at Edinburgh, while playing tennis, he noticed the same symptoms in his right eye. Brown underwent experimental surgery at the [[Edinburgh Royal Infirmary]] and his right eye was saved by a young eye surgeon, Hector Chawla.<ref>{{cite web |title=Indian-Origin Surgeon Saved Me from Blindness, Says Former UK PM |url=https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/indian-origin-surgeon-saved-me-from-blindness-says-former-uk-pm-1769013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108034517/https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/indian-origin-surgeon-saved-me-from-blindness-says-former-uk-pm-1769013 |archive-date=8 November 2017 |access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref><ref name="ddd">{{Cite news |last=Mackenzie |first=Suzie |date=25 September 2004 |title=Will he? Won't he? |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/sep/25/interviews.labourconference |url-status=live |access-date=1 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424025146/http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2004/sep/25/interviews.labourconference |archive-date=24 April 2008}}</ref> Brown graduated from Edinburgh with an [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|undergraduate MA]] degree with [[First-Class Honours]] in history in 1972. He stayed on to obtain his [[PhD]] degree in history, which he gained ten years later in 1982, defending a thesis titled ''The Labour Party and Political Change in Scotland 1918–1929''.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Brown |first=Gordon |date=1982 |title=The Labour Party and political change in Scotland, 1918–1929: the politics of five elections |url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/7136 |hdl=1842/7136 |access-date=7 September 2022 |archive-date=19 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819033624/https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/7136 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="bbb">{{cite web |title=History and tour-Gordon Brown |url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/gordon-brown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100515034523/http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/gordon-brown |archive-date=15 May 2010 |access-date=21 June 2009 |publisher=Prime Minister's Office}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Iain MacLean, Alistair MacMillan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=70vRFO9Mo6oC&q=%22the+labour+party+and+political+change+in+scotland%22+1982&pg=PA262 |title=State of the Union: Unionism and the Alternatives in the United Kingdom |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=9780199258208 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509034900/https://books.google.com/books?id=70vRFO9Mo6oC&pg=PA262 |archive-date=9 May 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In his youth at the University of Edinburgh, Brown was involved in a romantic relationship with [[Margarita, Crown Princess of Romania]]. Margarita said about it: "It was a very solid and romantic story. I never stopped loving him but one day it didn't seem right anymore, it was politics, politics, politics, and I needed nurturing." An unnamed friend of those years is quoted by [[Paul Routledge]] in his biography of Brown as recalling: "She was sweet and gentle and obviously cut out to make somebody a very good wife. She was bright, too, though not like him, but they seemed made for each other."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Aslet |first=Clive |date=21 May 2007 |title=Romantic. Beautiful. I fell madly in love |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3632645/Romantic.-Beautiful.-I-fell-madly-in-love.html |url-status=live |access-date=26 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140721142416/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3632645/Romantic.-Beautiful.-I-fell-madly-in-love.html |archive-date=21 July 2014}}</ref>

In 1972, while still a student, Brown was elected [[Rector of the University of Edinburgh]], the convener of the [[University Court]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosenbaum |first=Martin |date=15 July 2005 |title=Brown's first taste of power |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4683799.stm |url-status=live |access-date=21 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021032935/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4683799.stm |archive-date=21 October 2013}}</ref> He served as Rector until 1975, and also edited the document ''The Red Paper on Scotland''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ascherson |first=Neal |date=5 October 2000 |title=Life on the ante-eurodiluvian Left |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2000/nov/05/scotlanddevolution.devolution |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503194254/http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2000/nov/05/scotlanddevolution.devolution |archive-date=3 May 2009}}</ref>

===Career before Parliament===
From 1976 to 1980 Brown was employed as a lecturer in politics at [[Glasgow College of Technology]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 June 2004 |title=Gordon Brown timeline |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3809861.stm |url-status=live |access-date=23 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080325075527/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3809861.stm |archive-date=25 March 2008}}</ref> He also worked as a tutor for the [[Open University]].<ref>{{cite web |date=10 September 2007 |title=Gordon Brown's TUC speech in full (to the 2007 TUC Congress) |url=http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2007/9/10/gordon-brown-s-tuc-speech-in-full |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322002841/http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2007/9/10/gordon-brown-s-tuc-speech-in-full |archive-date=22 March 2012 |access-date=13 April 2010 |publisher=politics.co.uk}}</ref> In the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]], Brown stood for the [[Edinburgh South (UK Parliament constituency)|Edinburgh South]] constituency, losing to the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] candidate, [[Michael Ancram]].<ref name=bbb/>

From 1980, he worked as a journalist at [[Scottish Television]], later serving as current affairs editor until his election to Parliament in 1983.<ref name="GBStory">{{Cite news |last=Wheeler |first=Brian |date=27 June 2007 |title=The Gordon Brown story |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6743875.stm |url-status=live |access-date=11 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703221955/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6743875.stm |archive-date=3 July 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Newsinger |first=John |author-link=John Newsinger |date=Summer 2007 |title=Brown's Journey from Reformism to Neoliberalism |url=http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=334&issue=115 |journal=[[International Socialism]] |issue=115 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090101225846/http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=334&issue=115 |archive-date=1 January 2009}}</ref>