Editing Gordon Brown (section)

==Election to Parliament and opposition==
[[File:Tony Blair 1997.jpg|right|thumb|190px|[[Tony Blair]] (pictured) was a close colleague of Brown. Together, they made a pact ([[Blair–Brown deal]]) that Brown would succeed Blair as prime minister.]]
Brown was elected to Parliament as a Labour MP at his second attempt, for [[Dunfermline East (UK Parliament constituency)|Dunfermline East]] in the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]]. His first Westminster office mate was a newly elected MP from the Sedgefield constituency, [[Tony Blair]]. Brown became an [[Parliamentary opposition|opposition]] spokesman on Trade and Industry in 1985. In 1986, he published a biography of the [[Independent Labour Party]] politician [[James Maxton]], the subject of his doctoral thesis. Brown was [[Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury]] from 1987 to 1989 and then [[Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry]], before becoming Shadow Chancellor in 1992 following Labour's fourth consecutive defeat in the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|general election]] that year.<ref name=bbb/><ref name=GBStory/> Having led the ''Labour Movement Yes'' campaign, refusing to join the cross-party ''Yes for Scotland'' campaign, during the [[1979 Scottish devolution referendum]], while other senior Labour politicians – including [[Robin Cook]], [[Tam Dalyell]] and [[Brian Wilson (Labour politician)|Brian Wilson]] – campaigned for a ''No'' vote, Brown was subsequently a key participant in the [[Scottish Constitutional Convention]], signing the [[Claim of Right for Scotland]] in 1989.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wright |first=Kenyon |author-link=Canon Kenyon Wright |date=4 April 1999 |title=Scotland can sing a new song to a different tune and in a clear voice |work=[[The Sunday Herald]] |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18985240.html |url-status=dead |access-date=1 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327044716/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18985240.html |archive-date=27 March 2014 |quote=the Claim of Right of Scotland. I have it before me now as I write—a note of sadness as I see that the first two signatures, side by side, are those of the late John Smith MP and myself, a note of gratified surprise to see these closely followed by the autographs of Gordon Brown, Robin Cook, George Robertson, Donald Dewar, Malcolm Bruce, Jim Wallace and, more important, an impressive cross-section of Scotland's civil society.}}</ref>

Labour leader [[John Smith (Labour Party leader)|John Smith]] died suddenly in May 1994. Brown did not contest the leadership after [[Tony Blair]] became the favourite to win the [[1994 Labour Party leadership election|1994 leadership election]], deciding to make way for Blair to avoid splitting the pro-modernising vote in the leadership ballot.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Tony Blair (1953 -) |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/blair_tony.shtml |url-status=live |access-date=14 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219221027/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/blair_tony.shtml |archive-date=19 February 2009}}</ref> It has long been rumoured [[Blair–Brown deal|a deal]] was struck between Blair and Brown at the former Granita restaurant in [[A1 in London#Islington|Islington]], in which Blair promised to give Brown control of economic policy in return for Brown not standing against him in the leadership election.<ref>{{Cite news |last=White |first=Michael |author-link=Michael White (journalist) |date=6 June 2003 |title=The guarantee which came to dominate new Labour politics for a decade |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/jun/06/uk.labour |url-status=live |access-date=1 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011064835/http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/jun/06/uk.labour |archive-date=11 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Mayer |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine Mayer |date=16 January 2005 |title=Fight Club |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901050124-1018039-2,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=1 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080127020143/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C901050124-1018039-2%2C00.html |archive-date=27 January 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Colin |last2=d'Ancona |first2=Matthew |author2-link=Matthew d'Ancona |title=The night that power was on the menu |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1432329/The-night-that-power-was-on-the-menu.html |url-status=live |access-date=11 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802123218/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1432329/The-night-that-power-was-on-the-menu.html |archive-date=2 August 2017}}</ref> Whether this is true or not, the relationship between Blair and Brown was central to the fortunes of [[New Labour]], and they mostly remained united in public, despite reported serious private rifts.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wheeler |first=Brian |date=10 May 2007 |title=The Tony Blair story |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6506365.stm |url-status=live |access-date=1 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071127141458/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6506365.stm |archive-date=27 November 2007}}</ref>

As [[Shadow Chancellor]], Brown as Chancellor-in-waiting was seen as a good choice by business and the middle class. During his tenure as Chancellor, the rate of inflation sometimes exceeded the 2% target; the [[Governor of the Bank of England]], under the rules governing the Bank's role, wrote an explanatory letter to the Chancellor on each occasion inflation exceeded three per cent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Inflation |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303184647/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=19 |archive-date=3 March 2009 |access-date=13 April 2010 |publisher=[[National Statistics Online]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=17 March 2010 |title=Employment |url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100416060152/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?ID=12 |archive-date=16 April 2010 |access-date=13 April 2010 |publisher=National Statistics Online}}</ref> Following a reorganisation of [[Scottish Westminster constituencies from 2005|Westminster constituencies]] in Scotland in 2005, Brown became MP for [[Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath]] at the [[2005 United Kingdom general election|general election]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Guardian 2005 election results for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/hoc/constituency/0,9338,-1059,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=2 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010721004952/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/hoc/constituency/0%2C9338%2C-1059%2C00.html |archive-date=21 July 2001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=19 November 2007 |title=Find Your MP: Gordon Brown |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/712.stm |url-status=dead |access-date=23 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825194726/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/712.stm |archive-date=25 August 2007}}</ref>