On June 27, Tony Blair decided to step down from his role as Prime Minister and leader of Britain's Labour Party and to allow his replacement, Gordon Brown, to take charge.

Previously, Brown, the son of a Church of Scotland preacher, had supervised a period of financial prosperity in Britain, overseeing low inflation, low unemployment, and low interest rates as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the equivalent to Secretary of the Treasury in the United States.

According to The New York Times, in his former position, Brown's two main achievements were tighter spending guidelines, which he hoped would help to alleviate the Labour Party's "tax-and-spend" image, and the directing of federal savings to fund the poorly financed National Health Service.

Brown and Blair entered into politics together in 1983 as prominent young members of the opposed Labour Party. They were seen as the natural leaders of the party because of their youthful energy and forged a strong relationship very early in their political careers.

In 1994, when the election for Prime Minister loomed near, the two met privately to discuss their plans for the position. The suspected result of that meeting was for Brown to step aside and fully support his popular and articulate friend so long as he was made heir to the position.

For the entirety of the War in Iraq, Tony Blair and George W. Bush have been viewed as partners. Additionally, since Brown's coming to power, he has said that he plans to support Bush in Iraq. "We are on exactly the same path that I have set out, which is that we will continue to discharge our obligations to the Iraqi people, that we support their democracy," said Brown to reporters at his Downing Street office when he was asked if he was with President Bush on the issues of the Iraqi War (reported on National Public Radio).

When it comes to the differences in policy between Blair and Brown on the war, Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Philip Barker of Centenary believes that "there will likely be some change, but it's not going to be drastic. From the quotes I have seen, he is less supportive than Tony Blair... he will be a little bit more questioning."

"He doesn't have to make any difficult decisions," Dr. Barker went on to say. "Blair had already announced a withdrawal from Iraq before, so he can avoid those controversial decisions."

Gordon Brown describes himself as a "conviction politician" who believes in "duty, honesty, hard work, family, and respect for others." He says that those values "are [his] moral compass."

Similar Reads