LONDON, 28 June 2007 — Labour Party leader Gordon Brown, accompanied by his wife Sarah, stepped through the doors of 10 Downing Street a few minutes before 3 p.m. yesterday as Britain’s new prime minister.
He took the short ride from Buckingham Palace at 2.45 p.m. after accepting the invitation from Queen Elizabeth to form a new government, following the resignation earlier of erstwhile Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was in office for a record 10 years and the only Labour prime minister to win three successive general elections.
Addressing the world’s media, who had gathered outside 10 Downing Street, a nervous but brimming Brown, quoting the motto of his Kirkcaldy High School in Scotland, declared: “I will try my utmost.”
Brown who has been prime minister-in-waiting for some time and who served as Blair’s chancellor of the exchequer for the same period, stressed that his priority areas were education, health, affordable housing and restoring public trust in politics.
He pledged that he would try to meet “the concerns and aspirations of our whole country. This will be a new government with new priorities. At all times I will be strong in purpose, steadfast in will, resolute in action in the service of what matters to the British people. Let the work of change begin.”
Recently Gordon Brown also admitted that Iraq is “a divisive issue for our party and our country” and pledged to “learn lessons that need to be learned.”
Brown, 56, who is the first British prime minister to enter office without a general election in 17 years, was warmly greeted by staff at 10 Downing Street and immediately started the task of forming a new government. He was expected to name his chancellor and home secretary later in the day and complete his Cabinet appointments today. Brown became Labour leader unopposed last Sunday after potential rivals failed to gain enough support to mount a challenge.
Earlier yesterday, Blair presided over his final Prime Minister’s Questions at around 12 noon before heading to Downing Street to bid farewell to the staff at No. 10; and later to Buckingham Palace to hand in his resignation to the queen.
Blair, accompanied by wife Cherie and their four children, left Downing Street for the last time, without addressing the gathered world media.
Brown’s accession was tempered with the expectation of Blair’s appointment as the special Middle East peace envoy of the Quartet of Russia, the EU, the US and the United Nations.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Blair confirmed that his priority would be to push for a “two-state” settlement where Israel “confident and comfortable with its security” would exist side-by-side with “a viable Palestinian state at ease with Israel.”
In the House of Commons, Blair received a standing ovation from MPs on all sides in unprecedented scenes. He paid tribute to the “noble” work of MPs and to the British armed forces and especially to the troops killed in Iraq, saying he was “truly sorry about the dangers they face today.”
He defended his decision to go to war in Iraq and warned that the forces aligned with Al-Qaeda are out to destroy the British way of life. As such, his actions were designed to protect the security and interests of the British people. In his last words in Parliament he declared: “I wish everyone, friend or foe, well and that is that, the end.”
Conservative leader David Cameron hailed Blair’s “remarkable achievement” as prime minister for 10 years, praising his peace policy in Northern Ireland and his work in the developing world, which he said will “endure.” Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Menzies Campbell said that despite their political disagreements Blair had been “unfailingly courteous.”
Both wished Blair and his family the best and “every success for whatever he does in the future.”
Blair was expected to travel to his Sedgefield constituency in the northeast of England yesterday to announce he is standing down as an MP after 24 years.
Labour Deputy Leader John Prescott also resigned from front-line politics after 10 years as deputy prime minister. Last Sunday, Harriet Harman was appointed deputy leader of the Labour Party, but it is not clear whether Prime Minister Brown will appoint a deputy prime minister in his Cabinet.
Brown grew up in Kirkcaldy, an industrial center famed for its linoleum and mining industries. Both his father John, a minister of the church, and his mother Elizabeth, were influential figures in his life, especially in their efforts in helping others. Not surprisingly, he has described his parents as “my inspiration, and the reason I am in politics.”
The new prime minister had a brilliant educational record, excelling both in academic work and sport.
He entered the prestigious Edinburgh University at the age of 15, one of the youngest students to do so since World War II. He similarly gained one of the top first class honors degrees in postwar British university education and became the youngest ever rector of Edinburgh University.
Gordon Brown has also experienced personal adversity in his life. Just before he went to university, he seriously injured his eye with a detached retina playing for his school team at rugby. Two years ago his ten-days-old baby daughter died. And his youngest son suffers from cystic fibrosis.
To Prime Minister Brown his own beliefs could be summed up as “every child should have the best start in life, that everybody should have the chance of a job, that nobody should be brought up suffering in poverty. I would call them the beliefs that you associate with civilization and dignity.”
