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| The Right Honourable Nick Brown MP | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shadow Chief Whip of the House of Commons | |
|
Assumed office 6 October 2016 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Rosie Winterton |
|
In office 11 May 2010 – 7 October 2010 | |
| Leader |
Harriet Harman (Acting) Edward Miliband |
| Preceded by | Patrick McLoughlin |
| Succeeded by | Rosie Winterton |
| Chief Whip of the House of Commons Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury | |
|
In office 3 October 2008 – 11 May 2010 | |
| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | Geoff Hoon |
| Succeeded by | Patrick McLoughlin |
|
In office 2 May 1997 – 27 July 1998 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Alastair Goodlad |
| Succeeded by | Ann Taylor |
| Minister for the North East | |
|
In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010 | |
| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Commons Treasurer of the Household | |
|
In office 28 June 2007 – 3 October 2008 | |
| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | Bob Ainsworth |
| Succeeded by | Tommy McAvoy |
| Minister of State for Work | |
|
In office 11 June 2001 – 13 June 2003 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Des Browne |
| Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food | |
|
In office 27 July 1998 – 11 June 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Jack Cunningham |
| Succeeded by | Margaret Beckett (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) |
| Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Acting | |
|
In office 12 May 1994 – 21 July 1994 | |
| Leader | Margaret Beckett (Acting) |
| Preceded by | Margaret Beckett |
| Succeeded by | Margaret Beckett |
| Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne East Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (1997–2010) | |
|
Assumed office 9 June 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Mike Thomas |
| Majority | 19,261 (46.3%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Nicholas Hugh Brown 13 June 1950 |
| Website |
Official website Commons website |
Nick Brown (born 13 June 1950) has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne East since 1983. He has served as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Minister of State for Work and Pensions and Deputy Chief Whip. He has also served three separate terms as the Labour Party's Chief Whip, from 1997 to 1998, 2008 to 2010, and from 2016 to the present. His terms as chief whip have spanned periods in both government and opposition.
Political career
When Mike Thomas, the sitting Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East, defected to the SDP, Brown was chosen as the new Labour Party candidate for the seat, easily retaining it for Labour at the 1983 general election. He joined Labour's front bench in 1985 as a spokesman on Legal Affairs; from 1988 he was a Treasury spokesman and from 1994 he shadowed Health.
Originally elected to the Commons in the same year as Gordon Brown and Tony Blair he was initially close to both men but over time he became his namesake Brown's staunchest ally, though the two are unrelated. In the 1994 Labour leadership election he acted as Brown's unofficial campaign manager, and according to Gordon Brown's biographer Paul Routledge, advised against him pulling out of the contest in Blair's favour.
In 1995 he was appointed Deputy Chief Whip and played a central role in the close Parliament in trying to defeat the Conservatives. After Labour's election victory in 1997, he was appointed Chief Whip, but stayed there only for a year, and was moved to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1998.
His tenure at MAFF saw several animal health crises ending with the 2001 foot and mouth crisis. Brown's handling of the outbreak, which some in the media and politics used to attack the government, was criticised, though throughout he maintained the support of the farming and food industries and the veterinary profession. Suggestions that a vaccination strategy should have been practised in preference to the culling of hundreds of thousands of animals, made with the benefit of hindsight, did not help his cause, and he was demoted out to be the Minister of Work, with non-voting Cabinet rank, at the Department for Work and Pensions after the general election of 2001. In June 2003, he was dropped from the Government altogether, receiving news of his sacking by Tony Blair during the course of a party held to mark his 20 years as an MP.