Claim: Tony Blair was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

James Gordon Brown -LRB- born 20 February 1951 -RRB- is a British politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010 . He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Blair Government from 1997 to 2007 . Brown was a Member of Parliament -LRB- MP -RRB- from 1983 to 2015 , first for Dunfermline East and later for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath .   A doctoral graduate of the University of Edinburgh , Brown spent his early career working as both a lecturer at a further education college and a television journalist . He entered Parliament in 1983 as the MP for Dunfermline East . He joined the Shadow Cabinet in 1989 as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade , and was later promoted to become Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1992 . After Labour 's victory in 1997 , he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer , becoming the longest-serving holder of that office in modern history .   Brown 's time as Chancellor was marked by major reform of Britain 's monetary and fiscal policy architecture , transferring interest rate setting powers to the Bank of England , by a wide extension of the powers of the Treasury to cover much domestic policy and by transferring responsibility for banking supervision to the Financial Services Authority . Controversial moves included the abolition of advance corporation tax -LRB- ACT -RRB- relief in his first budget , and the removal in his final budget of the 10 % `` starting rate '' of personal income tax which he had introduced in 1999 . In 2007 , Tony Blair resigned as Prime Minister and Labour Leader and Brown was chosen to replace him in an uncontested election .   After initial rises in opinion polls following Brown becoming Prime Minister , Labour 's popularity declined with the onset of a recession in 2008 , leading to poor results in the local and European elections in 2009 . A year later , Labour lost 91 seats in the House of Commons at the 2010 general election , the party 's biggest loss of seats in a single general election since 1931 , making the Conservatives the largest party in a hung parliament . Brown remained in office as Labour negotiated to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats . On 10 May 2010 , Brown announced he would stand down as leader of the Labour Party , and instructed the party to put into motion the processes to elect a new leader . Labour 's attempts to retain power failed and on 11 May , he officially resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party . He was succeeded as Prime Minister by David Cameron , and as Leader of the Labour Party by Ed Miliband .   Later , Brown played a prominent role in the campaign surrounding the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 , galvanising support behind maintaining the union .