Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun Secretary of State for Defence Secretary of State for Scotland
Des Browne took which position from Jun 2007 to Oct 2008?
Des Browne Desmond Henry Browne , Baron Browne of Ladyton , ( born 22 March 1952 ) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 1997 to 2010 . He was a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown , until the latter moved him from both Defence and Scottish Secretary in 2008 . Early life and education . Browne was born in Kilwinning , North Ayrshire , lived in Stevenston for the early part of his life , and was educated at the Catholic St Michaels Academy in Kilwinning and later at the University of Glasgow , where he received a degree in law . Legal career . He started his legal career in 1974 as an apprentice solicitor with the firm James Campbell & Co . On qualifying in 1976 he became an assistant solicitor with Ross , Harper and Murphy , and was promoted to partner in 1980 . He became a partner in McCluskey Browne in 1985 , and was a council member of the Law Society of Scotland from 1988 to 1992 . He was admitted as an advocate in 1993 , practising at the Scottish bar until 1997 . He worked mainly in child law . Parliamentary career . Browne contested the parliamentary seat of Argyll and Bute at the 1992 general election , and finished in fourth place behind the sitting Liberal Democrat MP Ray Michie . He was elected to the Faculty of Advocates in 1993 . Browne was selected to contest the safe Labour seat of Kilmarnock and Loudoun following the retirement of the sitting MP William McKelvey . Browne won the seat at the 1997 general election with a majority of 7,256 . He made his maiden speech on 20 June 1997 . Browne joined the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee on his election , and became the Parliamentary Private Secretary ( PPS ) to the Secretary of State for Scotland Donald Dewar in 1998 . After Dewar left the Cabinet in 1999 , to seek election as the First Minister of Scotland , Browne remained in post as PPS to the new Secretary of State John Reid . In 2000 he became the PPS to the Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office . On 27 November 2009 , Browne announced his intention not to seek election in the 2010 general election . Government minister . After the 2001 general election Browne entered Tony Blairs government as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office . He was promoted to Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions in 2003 , before moving to the Home Office in 2004 as the minister with responsibility for immigration . He joined the Cabinet following the 2005 general election as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury , and became a Member of the Privy Council . Browne was appointed Secretary of State for Defence on 5 May 2006 . An advocate of the UK Trident programme , in 2007 he successfully persuaded Parliament to vote to replace Trident . He came under criticism , however , after allowing the Royal Navy personnel captured by Iran in spring 2007 to sell and publish their stories . Under Tony Blairs premiership , Browne was considered a supporter of the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown . He received the additional responsibilities of Secretary of State for Scotland in June 2007 after Brown became Prime Minister . In a free parliamentary vote on 20 May 2008 , Browne voted for cutting the upper limit for abortions from 24 to 12 weeks , along with two other Catholic cabinet ministers , Ruth Kelly and Paul Murphy . He returned to the backbenches in October 2008 following a cabinet reshuffle . Browne gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry on 25 January 2010 . He was created a life peer on 22 July 2010 , taking the title Baron Browne of Ladyton , of Ladyton in Ayrshire and Arran . Activities after leaving government . Browne is vice chairman of the Washington , DC-based Nuclear Threat Initiative , a non-profit , nonpartisan organization founded in 2001 by former U.S . Senator Sam Nunn , who serves as co-chair and CEO , and CNN founder and philanthropist Ted Turner . NTIs mission is to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear , biological and chemical weapons . Browne is convener of the European Leadership Network for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation . and he is also convenor of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation , established in October 2009 . He is a signatory of Global Zero , a non-profit international initiative for the elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide . Controversy over appointment as envoy to Sri Lanka . In February 2009 , Browne was appointed by PM Brown as the governments special envoy to Sri Lanka . However , the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa , fighting the LTTE rebel group , rejected Brownes appointment , stating that the British government made the appointment unilaterally , without consultation with the Sri Lankan government . External links . - Des Browne MP website - Ministry of Defence official biography - Speech on Iraq November 2006 - Speech on Afghanistan September 2006 - Speech on the UKs Nuclear Deterrent January 2007 - Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle : Des Browne MP - TheyWorkForYou.com - Des Browne MP - Des Brownes article in the Daily Record , covering President Obamas Inauguration 20 January 2009 - Global Zero - Des Browne at Global Zero