Editing Gordon Brown (section)

===Other issues===
In 2000, Brown was accused of starting a political row about higher education (referred to as the [[Laura Spence affair]]) when he accused the University of Oxford of elitism in its admissions procedures, describing its decision not to offer a place to state school pupil Laura Spence as "absolutely outrageous".<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 May 2000 |title=Oxford 'reject' wins Harvard scholarship |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/764141.stm |url-status=live |access-date=30 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109143101/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/764141.stm |archive-date=9 January 2009}}</ref> [[Roy Jenkins|Lord Jenkins]], then Oxford [[Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]] and himself a former Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, said "nearly every fact he used was false."<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 June 2000 |title=Peers condemn Oxford attack |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/792021.stm |url-status=live |access-date=30 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107110919/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/792021.stm |archive-date=7 January 2009}}</ref>

Between 1999 and 2002 Brown sold 60% of the UK's [[gold reserve]]s shortly before gold entered a protracted bull market, since nicknamed by dealers as the [[Brown Bottom]] or Brown's Bottom.<ref name="timesgold">{{Cite news |date=15 April 2007 |title=Goldfinger Brown's £2&nbsp;billion blunder in the bullion market |work=[[The Times]] |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1655001.ece |url-status=dead |url-access=registration |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511163250/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1655001.ece |archive-date=11 May 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=19 December 2008 |title=The outlook for gold |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/3849910/The-outlook-for-gold.html |access-date=19 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227042712/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/3849910/The-outlook-for-gold.html |archive-date=27 February 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Clive Maund |date=1 April 2007 |title=The Gold Bull Market Remembers How Gordon Brown Sold Half of Britains Reserves at the Lowest Price |url=http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article670.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126081527/http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article670.html |archive-date=26 November 2010 |access-date=19 November 2010 |publisher=Marketoracle.co.uk}}</ref> The official reason for selling the gold reserves was to reduce the [[Financial risk|portfolio risk]] of the UK's reserves by diversifying away from gold.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2002 |title=Review of the sale of part of the UK gold reserves |url=http://hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/GoldReserves.PDF |url-status=dead |publisher=[[HM Treasury]] |page=7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421115541/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/goldreserves.pdf |archive-date=21 April 2013}}</ref> The UK eventually sold about 395 tons of gold over 17 auctions from July 1999 to March 2002, at an average price of about US$275 per ounce, raising approximately US$3.5&nbsp;billion.<ref>^ a b c Gold: Does Gordon Brown's regret selling half of Britains' gold reserves 10 years ago?, The Daily Telegraph, 8 May 2009</ref> By 2011, that quantity of gold would be worth over $19 billion, leading to Brown's decision to sell the gold being widely criticised.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Watt |first1=Holly |last2=Winnett |first2=Robert |date=15 April 2007 |title=Goldfinger Brown's £2&nbsp;billion blunder in the bullion market |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1655001.ece |url-status=dead |url-access=registration |access-date=19 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511163250/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1655001.ece |archive-date=11 May 2008}}</ref> As of August 2024 the gold prize is approximately £1,905 per ounce, which would value the reserves sold at £26.5 billion.

As Chancellor, Brown argued against [[Renationalisation of British Rail|renationalising the railways]], saying at the Labour conference in 2004 that it would cost £22&nbsp;billion.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Unions defeat Labour in rail vote |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3694900.stm |url-status=live |access-date=16 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051227021902/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3694900.stm |archive-date=27 December 2005}}</ref>

During his time as Chancellor, Brown reportedly believed that it was appropriate to remove most, but not all, of the unpayable [[Third World debt]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 June 1999 |title=Gordon Brown answers your questions |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/369846.stm |url-status=live |access-date=1 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021022191058/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/369846.stm |archive-date=22 October 2002}}</ref> On 20 April 2006, in a speech to the United Nations Ambassadors, Brown outlined a "[[Green politics|Green]]" view of global development.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gordon Brown's speech, to United Nations Ambassadors, New York, 20 April 2006 |url=http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/speech_chex_200406.htm |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20081231041153/http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/speech_chex_200406.htm |archive-date=31 December 2008 |access-date=17 October 2009 |publisher=HM Treasury}}</ref>